Three Cheers for the Lupus Drugs in Development!

The Alliance for Lupus Research, committed to supporting research targeted to new or improved treatments for Lupus, recently published a list of the drugs currently in development to treat the disease. The last time a drug was approved to treat Lupus, Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, so this new list provides hope to many who continue to suffer with Lupus.

Click here to see a detailed list of the dozen or so drugs, most of which were a direct result of ALR funding. And here's an update on Rituxan, another drug which has been in clinical trials. The following are excerpted comments from ALR'S Scientific Advisory Board Chair, Dr. Mary K. Crow:

"Patients, lupus investigators, and all of us at the ALR were disappointed to learn that Rituxan (rituximab) did not prove successful in Genentech's Phase II/III trial in SLE... A second trial of Rituxan in lupus nephritis is in progress, and we look forward to a more positive result in that study, and are optimistic for more positive news from other drug trials currently in progress."