Lupus Drug Study Shows Promise

On Monday, GlaxoSmithKline and Human Genome Sciences announced that their experimental treatment for lupus had passed another important stage to possibly become the first new lupus drug to hit the market in years.

Bliss-76, a follow up study to the successful Bliss-52 study reported by the company last month, confirms the positive findings in the earlier report. The late stage study, which utilizes the drug Benlysta along with steroid therapy, is designed to suppress the individual immune system’s response to lupus. Lupus is an inflammatory disease that prompts the body to attack its own tissue and organs.

The data is said to show that a 10 milligram dose of Benlysta, along with the steroid therapy, resulted in marked improvement in 43 percent of patients, as compared to improvement in only 33 percent of patients who were given a placebo.

Benlysta is expected to gain approval and be on the market by the latter half of 2010. News of the study sent shares of Human Genome Sciences skyrocketing more than 34 percent in morning trading to around $25 per share. Shares had actually traded at more that $26 earlier in the day; levels not seen since early 2002.

The company is expected to present full results from the Bliss-76 study at a conference in spring of 2010.