GlaxoSmithKline's Benlysta lupus treatment gets green light in Japan
Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has approved GlaxoSmithKline's Benlysta for the treatment of adult patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
FTSE 100
7,895.85
16:59 19/04/24
FTSE 350
4,341.08
17:09 19/04/24
FTSE All-Share
4,296.41
17:08 19/04/24
GSK
1,599.00p
17:08 19/04/24
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
21,247.91
17:09 19/04/24
The drug - for patients who do not respond adequately to existing therapies - is for use as an add-on therapy in autoantibody positive SLE patients. The medicine will be available for patients in two formulations, as an injection, for intravenous use and an injection, for subcutaneous use.
Vlad Hogenhuis, senior vice president and head of Specialty Care at Glaxo, said: “Patients living with SLE have limited treatment choices available and may have to endure the associated side effects these can cause. SLE symptoms are broad, variable and unpredictable in their intensity, which means an individualised treatment approach is needed.
"Benlysta, in its IV form, has been used to treat thousands of patients worldwide and with today’s approval of two formulations, we are delighted that we can now provide an important new treatment option to physicians and SLE patients in Japan.”
SLE is a chronic, incurable, autoimmune disease associated with a range of symptoms that can fluctuate over time, affecting almost any system in the body.
At 0900 BST, the shares were up 0.1% to 1,484p.