Breakthrough science provides hope for lupus, which affects 1.5 million people in US

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-12/mu-bsp121619.php

News Release 18-Dec-2019
Monash University

Today the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) publishes research led by Monash University Professor Eric Morand that offers the first real hope for the treatment of lupus, a disease which affects 1.5 million people in the US and more than 5 million globally, 90% women and for which there is no cure.

The results are of an international, three-year, Phase 3 trial of a potential new drug that treats this autoimmune disease (also known as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)).

Lupus is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks healthy parts of the body. It is particularly insidious disease as it has a ten-year mortality of 10%, "which if you are diagnosed in your early twenties is a terrible outcome," according to Professor Morand, who oversaw the global trial in over 360 people with SLE.

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