AstraZeneca lupus drug works in mid-stage trial

AstraZeneca
lupus drug
performs in
mid-stage trial.

There is a new hope for people suffering from deadly and painful lupus disease.

According to report: AstraZeneca's
experimental
lupus (the
condition, in
which the
immune system
attacks joints
and organs) drug
anifrolumab
significantly cut
disease activity
in a mid-stage
clinical trial,
boosting hopes
for a medicine
the company
believes could
become a $1
billion-a-year
seller. The
drugmaker said
on Tuesday that
the new
treatment was
more effective
than another
drug,
sifalimumab, that
it had also been
testing in lupus.

There is limited drugs available for the treatment of lupus which
account for reason lupus patients keep suffering and dying from the
disease. Imagine,
only one new
drug –
GlaxoSmithKline's
Benlysta – has
been introduced
for lupus in the
past 60 years,
underlining the
difficulties of
treating the disease.