Lupus Research Alliance News
Celebrating Lupus Awareness Month

October 15, 2018 “For us, raising awareness about this awful disease isn’t limited to May. All year long, we are engaged in delivering discoveries that can transform lives. Because that is where real hope begins.” Kenneth M. Farber, President and CEO Lupus gained the attention it deserves throughout the month of May! Millions of people […] READ MORE

Serving Under-served Lupus Communities

October 15, 2018 The Lupus Research Alliance’s Multi-cultural Outreach Task Force is out in full force to raise awareness among the African American communities, who face a higher risk of developing the disease, at health expos around the country, including the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, LA this summer and Healthy Churches 2020 National […] READ MORE

Lupus Patient-Focused Drug Development Meeting

The Lupus Research Alliance collaborated with the Lupus and Allied Diseases Association and the Lupus Foundation of America on a groundbreaking initiative in cooperation with the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) externally-led Patient-Focused Drug Development (PFDD) program. The well-attended meeting hosted by the three groups supplemented by a national survey of people with lupus resulted […] READ MORE

Patient Involvement: The Next Critical Step

October, 2018 Certainly, advocacy is absolutely necessary to generate funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other federal organizations, as well as for groups that support and conduct lupus research. But patient involvement is also critical to opening pathways to discovery. “Just helping to raise money isn’t enough,” said Diane Gross, National Director of […] READ MORE

Advocacy on the Personal Level

“Advocacy has many forms, including taking action for one’s own health. It’s self-advocacy  — even though many would not think of their actions this way,” explains Diane Gross, National Director of Advocacy and Programs at the Lupus Research Alliance. “When patients hear that their insurance company is not going to pay for a medication and then […] READ MORE

Advocacy: The Critical First Step

Advocacy can mean different things to different people. Some seek to make changes in policy and funding at state and federal levels by helping Congress and government agencies better understand what it means to live with lupus. For others, advocacy is a way to take action with respect to their own health. Regardless of the […] READ MORE

Lupus Research Alliance Awards Grants to Six Trailblazing Studies

2018 Awards Enable Promising Scientists to Bring Innovative Approaches to Lupus Research October 18, 2018 The Lupus Research Alliance announced six new Novel Research Grants to support paradigm-changing lupus research. To conquer the complexity of lupus, the Novel Research Grants support researchers who study lupus from many perspectives, testing new theories about what causes lupus and […] READ MORE

Lupus Kidneys Copy Tumors’ Tactic to Protect Themselves

October 4, 2018 Abnormal immune cells invade the kidneys in patients with lupus and can damage the organs so severely that they stop working. But the kidneys defend themselves from these attacks by disabling these rogue cells, according to a new study from two scientists funded by the Lupus Research Alliance. Cancerous tumors similarly protect […] READ MORE

Cancer Study Shows How Body’s Trash Pickup Fails in Lupus

October 4, 2018 Immune cells called macrophages that normally clear away the body’s trash don’t do their jobs in lupus. Now, a study of cancer partly funded by the Lupus Research Alliance may explain how these macrophages promote lupus. Douglas Green, PhD, of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and colleagues found that […] READ MORE

Lupus Research Alliance Advocates Win Big with 2019 Federal Funding

NEW YORK, NY. Sept. 28 – Congratulations go out to the Lupus Research Alliance advocates! The 2019 spending bill was signed into law today, granting the two requests Lupus Research Alliance advocates made to legislators on “Capitol Hill Day” in March 2018. Approved by Congress earlier in the week, the bill provides $5 million for […] READ MORE

Good News from Aurinia Pharmaceuticals for Lupus Nephritis

September 25, 2018 Congratulations to Aurinia Pharmaceuticals for completing patient enrollment in the AURORA Phase 3 clinical trial ahead of schedule.  The company reported in a press release issued today that due to high patient demand, the target number of patients was surpassed with 358 lupus nephritis (LN) patients enrolled in sites across 27 countries. […] READ MORE

Better Survival Rates from Severe Lupus Nephritis

September 20, 2018 Significantly more people are surviving end-stage renal (kidney) disease caused by lupus nephritis according to a long-term analysis published in Arthritis & Rheumatology. The analysis of the national registry of 20,974 patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) during the years 1995 through  2014 found that mortality rates significantly declined.  In addition, among […] READ MORE

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