|
 The British drugmaker said anifrolumab under the TULIP 2 program
helped patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, commonly known as
SLE.
The drug had failed to meet its main goal in the final stage of one
of the two clinical trials under the TULIP program last year
https://in.reuters.com/article/us-astrazeneca-anifrolumab/astrazeneca-lupus-drug-fails-to-meet-main-goal-in-study-idINKCN1LG0MM.
"These are important results and we will now review the full data
set and explore pathways to bring this potential new treatment to
patients," said Mene Pangalos, executive vice president
BioPharmaceuticals R&D, adding that only one new treatment has been
approved for the disease in the last 60 years.
SLE is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks
healthy tissue in the body, with about five million people affected
globally, according to the Lupus Foundation of America.
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AstraZeneca has been in a race with GlaxoSmithKline and French
biotech company Neovacs to create new treatments for lupus.
GSK received https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/media/press-releases/gsk-receives-us-approval-of-benlysta-for-intravenous-use-in-children-with-lupus-aged-five-years-and-above
U.S. approval for Benlysta, the first new treatment for lupus in
more than half a century, for intravenous use in children with lupus
aged five years and above in April.
Anifrolumab, which is also given intravenously, is designed for
patients with moderate-to-severe lupus and works by targeting
interferon, a protein involved in inflammation.
(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj
Kalluvila, Bernard Orr)
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