Dramatic Results for Interferon Blocker in SLE 'These are the best lupus data we've ever seen,' researcher says of anifrolumab

"For decades scientists have been talking about the role of the interferon pathway," Furie explained in an interview. The interferons play a role in fighting viral infections and surveillance for cancer, but levels are elevated in patients with lupus, so this has seemed like a natural therapeutic target, he said. Blocking just the alpha interferon leaves the other four type 1 interferons able to bind to the receptor on inflammatory cells, but anifrolumab blocks the receptor itself, Furie noted. The first study of anifrolimumab was in scleroderma, in which interferon levels also are high, he said. That study documented the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and safety, and served as the foundation of this phase II lupus study. "We haven't seen a lot of positive lupus data, with only one drug, belimumab [Benlysta] having been approved in recent years, and so far the phase II data for anifrolumab are far better than the phase III data for belimumab. And if you compare the phase II data of the two drugs, belimumab was a failure although there were enough signals to move ahead to phase III. So there's a lot of promise here," he said. http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/EULAR/58473?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2016-06-13&eun=g721819d0r A simple common cold triggers our cells to make Type I interferon and so the common cold can trigger severe lupus flares. ANOTHER reason why winter is so bad for those with SLE.