Advancing Scientific Breakthroughs to Date:
- Directly invested $245+ million in the most promising lupus research
- Awarded more than 560 grants supporting innovative lupus research and accelerated the pace of discovery
- Supported research that has contributed to the identification or further validation of at least 15 different disease pathways in lupus and has enabled the discovery, validation or testing of more than a dozen different therapies for lupus
- Supported BLyS studies that enabled the subsequent development of belimumab
- Invested nearly $16 million in 40 research projects examining the type I interferon pathway, paving the way for anifrolumab as a potential treatment to block type I interferons in SLE.
- Supported key genetics (SLEGEN) and genotype-phenotype (Immunochip) insights
- Opened new areas of investigation in neuropsychiatric lupus and in immunometabolism
- Supported the first microbiome in lupus studies
- Facilitated discovery of a novel biologic, RSLV132, currently in a Phase 2 trial in lupus
- Half of our funded studies have identified new targets for development of new lupus therapies
- More than half of our Lupus Mechanisms and Targets Awards, led to testing new potential treatments
- Our funded scientists, continue to develop new techniques for diagnosis and monitoring to ensure earlier detection and improved management of lupus
Accelerating Development of New Lupus Treatments:
- Created and currently lead the Lupus Clinical Investigators Network (LuCIN) of 57 top academic medical centers throughout North America
- Forged 25 partnerships with pharmaceutical companies in all phases of clinical development
- Played a critical role in the trial design and recruitment for 13 interventional clinical trials to improve lupus diagnosis, monitoring and treatment
- United 18 leading biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in addressing challenges in lupus drug development through the Lupus Industry Council
Securing Federal Lupus Research Funding:
- Effectively advocated for the creation and growth of the Lupus Research Program at the U.S. Department of Defense, securing a total of $45 million in federal funding for lupus research grants since its inception in 2017
- Succeeded in advocating for billions every year for the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) budget to fund medical research, with most Lupus Research Alliance grantees receiving follow-on funding from the NIH to continue the work we seeded
