Thanks to the relentless and coordinated outreach to members of Congress by advocates from the Lupus Research Alliance community and leadership, the FY26 Agriculture-FDA Appropriations Act, which has been passed by the Senate and now awaits House passage and President Trump’s signaturel, that includes language specifically supporting the Lupus Accelerating Breakthroughs Consortium (Lupus ABC), a public-private partnership established and administered by the Lupus Research Alliance.

Lupus ABC unites people living with lupus, investigators, pharmaceutical companies, and the FDA to accelerate lupus drug development in a precompetitive, collaborative setting and aims to ensure that the perspectives of people with lived experience of lupus are incorporated into the drug development process.

The Senate included the following provision in their reports accompanying the FDA funding bill, which is now in review in the House :

Lupus.— The Committee is aware of barriers that have long affected the development of therapeutics for lupus, a disease that primarily affects women. The Committee is pleased that FDA has partnered with researchers, industry, patients, and other stakeholders to launch the Lupus Accelerating Breakthroughs Consortium (ABC), a public-private partnership to accelerate development of new therapies. The Committee encourages FDA to continue this engagement and provide updates on its efforts to accelerate development of safer and more effective treatments for people with lupus.

The Lupus Research Alliance continues to strongly urge Congress to maintain robust investments in the Department of Defense Lupus Research Program and support National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants focused on lupus.

To learn more about Lupus ABC, visit here.