Today, the Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) announced a new, groundbreaking collaborative lupus clinical trial program – LFA Lupus Initiative First Trial, also known as LFA LIFT. LFA LIFT aims to implement a secure data platform to allow shared lupus placebo group results across the biopharmaceutical industry to accelerate lupus clinical research.

With more than 140 clinical trials for lupus actively recruiting in the U.S., it has become increasingly difficult to identify patients who meet the restrictive entry criteria for these trials. Through a centralized, high-quality data repository maintained by LFA and informed by LFA’s proprietary Research Accelerated by You (RAY) program, LFA LIFT’s innovative approach will address key issues facing lupus drug development, including the high costs and delays in patient recruitment, as well as patient concerns about being randomized to placebo.

LFA LIFT will bring together a diverse group of stakeholders – patients, clinicians and biopharmaceutical developers – to set a new standard for patient-centered and efficient drug development and create a paradigm shift to accelerate LFA’s mission work to improve the quality of life for everyone affected by lupus.