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| Prestara™ and Lupus | |
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What Is Lupus? Prestara™ Background Prestara™ Clinical Trials |
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Home / Development / Prestara™ and Lupus / | ||
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What Is Lupus? |
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Lupus and the Clinical Rationale Behind Prestara™
According to various published estimates, lupus affects approximately 200,000 patients in the United States, and Genelabs believes that there are at least one million patients worldwide. Lupus is a severe, chronic, and frequently debilitating autoimmune disease that can affect the musculoskeletal and nervous systems as well as the lungs, heart, kidneys, skin and joints. In the United States, there have been no new drugs approved by the FDA for the treatment of lupus in more than 40 years. The two FDA-approved existing treatments for lupus, prednisone (a glucocorticoid) and hydroxychloroquine (an anti-malarial), are often inadequate, due to limited benefits and/or severe adverse side effects. Anti-inflammatory agents may be used when appropriate for specific symptoms, and cytotoxic drugs, such as methotrexate, are sometimes used when the disease is particularly severe. Side effects from prednisone can be debilitating and include changes in physical appearance, mood and personality; muscle weakness; osteoporosis; atherosclerosis; high blood pressure; diabetes; immune suppression leading to infection; and other complications. © Genelabs Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. - Terms of Use |