Biologicals for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus?

The need for drug development in order to improve disease outcome and limit side-effects in severe lupus is an issue of major concern for both patients and clinicians dealing with lupus patients. For many years, results from randomized trials in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have been very disappointing, with lack of efficacy for some drugs and development of severe side-effects such as infections for others. Fortunately, as more and more trials of biologics in the treatment of lupus are being performed, the first promising results have been achieved. Today, belimumab is expected to become the first approved drug for use in lupus in several decades, and preliminary reports showing beneficial results with epratuzumab have been presented. We may be at the threshold of a new era in SLE therapeutics.