December 23, 2010) WASHINGTON, DC – Events of 2010 represented the beginning of the long anticipated transition to a new era in which the 1.5 million Americans and the more than five million individuals worldwide living with the autoimmune disease lupus can look forward to an improved quality of life. Potential new treatments for lupus passed several milestones on the road toward approval, public and private investment in lupus research continued to grow, awareness of lupus received a boost from celebrity involvement, and several new LFA initiatives fueled efforts to improve future lupus clinical trials. The Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) has compiled a list of the 2010 Top Ten Achievements in Lupus, available on the LFA website.
One of the most anticipated achievements of 2010 was the vote by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee to recommend approval of the investigational medicine, Benlysta®, for the treatment of systemic lupus. Top achievements this past year also included continued growth of public and private funding for lupus. For example, the Department of Defense (DoD) Medical Research Program and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided nearly million in additional research support. Additional pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies announced positive clinical trial data, initiated studies on new compounds, or acquired new technologies to develop potential treatments for lupus.
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