Lupus News and Research

Latest Lupus News and Research

New PSA campaign to raise awareness about autoimmune diseases

The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association Inc. has unveiled a multi-media public service/awareness campaign titled "We are 50 Million" to herald March 2011 as National Autoimmune Diseases Awareness Month.

2 Mar 2011

SQI Diagnostics first quarter net loss increases to $2,255,000

SQI Diagnostics Inc., a medical systems automation company focused on evolving laboratory-based autoimmune biomarker testing, today announced its financial and operational results for the first quarter ended December 31, 2010.

28 Feb 2011

Idera: IMO-3100 in lupus preclinical model suppressed several key disease progression parameters

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it is presenting data on IMO-3100, an antagonist of TLR7 and TLR9, in a preclinical model of lupus showing that treatment with IMO-3100 suppressed several key disease progression parameters.

15 Feb 2011

'Real world' guidelines may effectively prevent cardiovascular disease in women

Practical medical advice that works in the "real world" may more effectively prevent cardiovascular disease in women than recommendations based only on findings in clinical research settings, according to the 2011 update to the American Heart Association's cardiovascular disease prevention guidelines for women.

15 Feb 2011

Novel technology to diagnose Alzheimer's disease before symptoms appear

UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have helped develop a novel technology to diagnose Alzheimer's disease from blood samples long before symptoms appear.

14 Feb 2011

CMD co-founder receives Prize4Life award for discovery of new ALS biomarker

Convergence Medical Devices (CMD) today announced that its co-founder, Dr. Seward Rutkove, Chief of the Division of Neuromuscular Disease at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, received Prize4Life's prestigious award for the discovery of a new biomarker for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

7 Feb 2011

The Lancet journal publishes BENLYSTA BLISS-52 study against SLE

Human Genome Sciences, Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline PLC today announced publication of the BLISS-52 study of BENLYSTA in autoantibody-positive patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus in The Lancet.

7 Feb 2011

Immunomedics reports net loss of $3.4M in total revenues for second quarter 2011

Immunomedics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on the development of monoclonal antibody-based products for the targeted treatment of cancer, autoimmune and other serious diseases, today reported financial results for the second quarter ended December 31, 2010.

5 Feb 2011

Amgen, Pfizer present Enbrel new trial results against psoriasis at 69th AAD meeting in New Orleans, LA

Amgen and Pfizer Inc. today announced results from a new trial that demonstrated Enbrel significantly improved scalp involvement in adult patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, compared with placebo. The data will be presented today at the 69th Annual American Academy of Dermatology meeting in New Orleans, La.

5 Feb 2011

Researchers identify regulatory defect that drives lupus

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Cambridge, Mass., in collaboration with Jackson Laboratory scientists, have identified a regulatory defect that drives lupus.

4 Feb 2011

Merck announces publication of GARDASIL pivotal Phase III study data in NEJM

Merck announced today that data from the pivotal Phase III study with GARDASIL in males were published in the February 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

3 Feb 2011

Researchers discover 'common set of dysregulated miRNAs in murine lupus models'

Potentially impacting future diagnosis and treatment of lupus, an immune illness affecting more than 5 million people worldwide, researchers at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech have likely uncovered where the breakdown in the body's lymphocyte molecular regulatory machinery is occurring.

1 Feb 2011

GE Capital provides capital to XDx to help increase commercialization of AlloMap molecular diagnostic test

GE Capital, Healthcare Financial Services announced today that it has provided, as sole lender, a $12.5 million senior secured multi-draw term loan facility to XDx, Inc. The financing provides XDx with working capital to expand the commercialization of its FDA-cleared, innovative, noninvasive AlloMap molecular diagnostic test and pursue the development of other gene expression-based tests for autoimmune diseases including lupus.

29 Jan 2011

LFA launches new nationwide education series for people with lupus

The Lupus Foundation of America has launched a new nationwide education series, Lupus: Learn from the Experts, designed to provide people with lupus essential information about living with lupus from some of the world's leading lupus experts. The program is a series of teleconferences hosted by a lupus expert, and will cover a wide variety of topics important to people with lupus, including disability, kidney involvement, and clinical trials.

29 Jan 2011

XDx establishes $12.5 million multi-draw term loan facility with GE Capital

XDx, a San Francisco-based molecular diagnostics company focused on non-invasive gene expression-based tests for the monitoring of organ transplant rejection and autoimmune diseases, announced today that it has established a $12.5 million senior secured multi-draw term loan facility with GE Capital, Healthcare Financial Services.

28 Jan 2011

Prototype drug halts GVHD in mouse models of bone marrow transplantation

A prototype drug already shown to hold promise for treating autoimmune disorders like lupus, arthritis and psoriasis halts established graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in mouse models of bone marrow transplantation, research at the University of Michigan and the University of Florida shows.

28 Jan 2011

Interferon-alpha associated with increased risk of atherosclerosis in patients with SLE

Researchers in China have demonstrated interferon-alpha (IFN-α) is associated with increased risk of atherosclerosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). For the first time, IFN-α priming was shown to promote lipid uptake and foam cell formation—a crucial step in plaque build-up. This activation of the IFN signaling pathway may be linked to the premature atherosclerosis risk in SLE.

27 Jan 2011

Research finds link between increased hygiene and higher rates of certain diseases in women

Little girls growing up in western society are expected to be neat and tidy - "all ribbon and curls" - and one researcher who studies science and gender differences thinks that emphasis may contribute to higher rates of certain diseases in adult women.

27 Jan 2011

SuppreMol completes successful pre-IND meeting with U.S. FDA

SuppreMol GmbH, a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapeutics for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, today announced that it has successfully completed a pre-Investigational New Drug Application (pre-IND) meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its lead compound SM101, which is being developed for the treatment of Primary Immune Thrombocytopenia (ITP) and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE).

24 Jan 2011