This week, LFA-supported researchers will share results of a study that could help expedite the delivery of new and safer therapies to people with lupus. The presentation will be at the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Annual Scientific Meeting in Washington, DC. 

One of the end goals of clinical trials is to show that a potential new therapy is better at improving disease activity than the existing standard of care treatments, which are therapies that are widely accepted and used by medical experts to treat symptoms of lupus.

In lupus, however, it gets complicated. Because every case of lupus is different, standard of care treatments can vary. To add to that, many people take different levels of steroids in addition to the standard of care therapies.

Standard of care treatments taken at the same time as the investigational drug and placebo during a clinical trial are known as background medications. They may mask the effectiveness of potential new treatments, making it difficult for a study to show favorable results.

To address this longstanding problem in lupus research, the Lupus Foundation of America established the Collective Data Analysis Initiative (LFA CDAI). The goal of the initiative is to improve the way lupus clinical trials are designed in order to accelerate the development of new therapies for people living with lupus. Findings from the study presented this week will help researchers expedite drug development for lupus.

The Lupus Foundation of America supports smarter research and faster progress to improve the quality of life for all people affected by lupus.