December 21, 2015

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Make the Lupus Buddy Program Catch Fire

The Lupus Buddy Program - the first of its kind in lupus - is not even a month old (we launched it on July 15), and we already have almost 60 people signed up! Now that's something.

The interest in the program launched by the LFNC working with a volunteer coordinator tells us how valuable patients are finding it - not just in northern California but across the country. And although we couldn't be happier to see it take off among patients, one thing is holding us back from much broader outreach, recruitment and expansion: Funding.

You can solve that problem. Give just $25 (more if you can), then share our funding page with all your friends on your social networks. Donate now.

We started with a small seed funding from GSK, but we need to raise $10,000 more to help lupus patients from sea to shining sea. Why? We need time from program coordinators to match the patients, for orientation, for follow-up, for helping each pair of buddies at every stage. Give now, share and make it catch fire.

If you are a patient interested in the program, learn more, and sign up here. A program coordinator will be in touch with you. Any personal and medical information necessary to make the matches are treated with the highest degree of confidentiality.

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Information contained in this e-Newsletter should not be considered a substitute for professional diagnosis, treatment or management of S.L.E. and symptoms by a physician.

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Editor: Spandan Chakrabarti

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Lupuzor to Begin Phase III Trial, Holds Hope of Being First Non-immunosuppressive Lupus Treatment

In news exciting lupus researchers and communities across the globe, Immunopharma is about to begin Phase III trial of the experiemental therapy Lupuzor - which, if approved, will become the first non-immunosuppressive treatment for lupus.

Because lupus is an auto-immune disease in which the immune system attacks the body's healthy organs, treatment almost always targets the body's immune activity, suppressing natural immune responses along with disease activity. This often results in the body being vulnerable to external attacks that would otherwise be easily repelled by the body's immune system.

One protein sequence developed by the research team for Lupuzor has shown to be capable of delaying disease activity while still protecting the body's natural immune response.

The team led by Sylviane Muller, who received the 2015 CNRS Medal of Innovation, developed a family of peptides (protein fragments) that can specifically correct dysfunction of the immune system. One of these peptides, called P140, proved capable of delaying the development of lupus in affected mice, while preserving their immune systems' ability to fight infective agents. Since then, phase I and II clinical trials have been carried out by the company ImmuPharma-France, which holds an exclusive license for the patents that protect this family of peptides, all owned by the CNRS or filed as joint property. During phase II trials, the disease regressed in 62% of patients after 3 months of treatment: this is the best result ever to have been achieved for this pathology.