New Lupus treatment provides hope

[Guest guest]

New Lupus treatment provides hope

Updated: 1/6/2006 5:00:00 AM

By: Kafi Drexel, News 10 Now Web Staff



The autoimmune disease Lupus, which mainly affects women, can cause

inflammation and tissue damage to almost any of the body's organs,

especially the kidneys.

For decades, the standard of care for treating patients suffering

from lupus kidney disease, also known as lupus nephritis, has been an

intravenous form of chemotherapy, Cytoxan. But many say the treatment

has almost been worse than the disease itself.

“The current medications that physicians have to treat lupus have

disastrous side-effects: infertility, bone loss,†said Maragaret

Dowd, the Executive Director of the S.L.E. Lupus Foundation. “It's

not uncommon for young women in their 30s to have hip replacements

and bone replacements from the drugs.â€

But results of a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine are

showing an immuno-suppressive drug called CellCept could be the

alternative. The oral drug from Roche Pharmaceuticals, already

approved by the FDA for use in organ transplant patients, had

stronger results with less severe side effects.

Dr. Ellen Ginzler at SUNY Downstate Medical Center led the study, and

said the findings offer patients something they might not have had

before - choice.

“As the results of this study are becoming known, it has in fact

certainly become an equivalent standard of care,†said Dr.

Ginzler. “And for many physicians it's becoming the first-line drug,

with Cytoxan now reserved for patients who are extremely ill and

might not respond to CellCept.â€

Her patient, Pamela Ennis, has been struggling with lupus for the

past 20 years. Up until the trial she was seriously ill with kidney

disease. She was put on CellCept as part of the trial, and now she

said the nephritis is in remission.

“I see people on kidney dialysis and I don't think I could handle

that, or to lose a kidney from lupus,†she said. “For me it's a

miracle, because right now my kidney function is perfect.â€

Doctors and advocates are hoping this latest information will open

the door for the FDA to approve more new treatments.

Something to note; patients trying CellCept did experience side-

affects including nausea and some gastro-intestinal issues. But none

had symptoms severe enough to stop treatment, unlike the intravenous

chemotherapy treatment which in the past, despite risks of kidney

failure or death, caused some patients not to follow through with it.

http://news10now.com/shared/print/default.asp?ArID=56746