Anifrolumab Improves Skin and Joint Disease in People with Lupus
New data analysis revealed at this year’s European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR 2021) shows trial drug anifrolumab consistently improves both skin rash and arthritis in people with lupus compared to placebo (a harmless pill used in clinical trials for a comparison).
Researchers measured improvements in both rash and arthritis using three different measurements, and anifrolumab proved to effectively improve symptoms regardless of the measurement used. For skin rash, the drug outperformed the placebo by 13.5-15.6%. For arthritis, anifrolumab outperformed the placebo by 8.2-12.6%.
“Arthritis and rash are the most common and persistent problems in lupus and often have a significant impact on a person's life,” states Joan Merrill, MD, Professor of Medicine, Arthritis & Clinical Immunology Program, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and Chief Advisor for Clinical Development at the Lupus Foundation of America (LFA). “The strength of the data from this analysis is that anifrolumab was found to be consistently effective using three different ways of looking at rash and three different approaches to arthritis. Capturing multiple aspects of improvement increases confidence that anifrolumab may be an important option for patients.”
Anifrolumab is currently under regulatory review as a treatment for lupus in the US, EU and Japan, and its potential approval is anticipated before the end of this year. Continue to follow LFA for more breaking treatment news.