Rheumatology Network News Roundup: Eye on Lupus

Kidney Week Wraps With Presentations on COVID and Emerging Therapies​: From COVID-19 presentations to emerging new therapies for chronic kidney disease, Dr. Bradley Marder, medical director of nephrology with Horizon Therapeutics, offers his take on the most memorable moments from the American Society for Nephrology/Kidney Week annual meeting which wrapped this week.



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New Treatment for Lupus Nephritis Advances to Phase III: A possible new treatment for advanced lupus nephritis passes a phase two trial, according to a study presented at Kidney Week, the annual meeting of the American Society for Nephrology. The treatment, a CD20 antagonist called obinutuzumab, led to improvements in 41 percent of patients with lupus nephritis—a condition that affects one in 60 people with systemic lupus.

COVID Deaths Are High Among Waitlisted Kidney Transplant Patients: Although mortality rates for kidney transplant recipients with COVID-19 are known to be high, end stage kidney disease patients with COVID-19 appear to have a higher risk of mortality than patients with new kidneys.

Belimumab Improves Renal Outcomes in Lupus Nephritis: Anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive agents are the two primary classes of drugs used to treat lupus nephritis. Now, a new study shows that the addition of the monoclonal antibody belimumab to standard therapy may make a meaningful difference in this hard-to-treat patient population.

ACR Takes Steps to Close the Gap in Lupus Care: The American College of Rheumatology has launched a project designed to resolve inequities in care for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, a condition that is two or three times more common among ethnic minorities. In this interview, S. Sam Lim, M.D., MPH, chair of ACR’s Collaborative Initiatives Special Committee, tells us more about the project.

Early Trial Shows That Pegloticase Is Safe for Kidney Transplant Patients: For kidney transplant patients with gout, the use of anti-inflammatory drugs and urate-lowering therapies typically used to prevent flares and slow the progression disease, are associated with the risk of adverse events. In this interview, Dr. Abdul Abdellatif describes a clinical trial that shows pegloticase may be suitable for transplant patients with gout.

Addressing Misconceptions About Gout: In today's episode of the Rheumatology Network podcast Overdrive, we talk with Dr. Bradley Marder, medical director of nephrology for Horizon Therapeutics. Gout, he says, is not only a rheumatic disease that affects peripheral joints, it’s a disease that's systemic in nature and progressive. As a nephrologist, he sees gout as kidney disease. In today's episode of Overdrive, he explains why.