Currently in France, 30,000 people are affected by lupus, most of them women (90%). This genetic disease has not yet found a way to be cured, but a new molecule has just proven its effectiveness, for the first time in 60 years. This is the case with anifromulab, as revealed by a study published in New England Journal of Medicine.
The principle of systemic lupus erythematosus is that the immune system turns on itself. It can attack different areas of the body such as the skin, joints, nervous system or kidneys. The disease can only be treated with one drug: Benlysta.
Side effects
This is not the first time that anifromulab has been tested in a study, the researchers point out. But before he had not proven himself. In question ? Its dosage. This time, it was administered in a maximum amount: 300mg. It is an antibody which has been modified to attach itself to a molecule present in too large a quantity in the body of lupus patients: interferons 1. The purpose of this drug is to block the receptors for this molecule.
The study brought two groups of patients face to face. Some are on anifromulab, others on placebo. Those to whom the molecule was administered saw their condition improve to 47.8%, against 31.5% for the others. This is an overall improvement because some aspects of the disease did not respond to the drug (joint pain for example). That said, the study highlights one flaw in treatment: side effects such as zonas and respiratory infections.
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