GSK is pleased to announce that Benlysta (belimumab) is now available in Australia for use as an add-on therapy in adult patients with active, autoantibody-positive systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with a high degree of disease activity despite standard therapy.

Lupus is a serious, chronic and debilitating disease of the immune system that usually affects people in their prime between the ages of 15 and 44; 90% of those affected are women.  It is estimated up to 32,000 people in Australia are living with various forms of lupus, including SLE.4 The current goal of treatment is to control disease activity and minimise complications. Persistent disease activity has been shown to contribute to organ damage and mortality. Many patients remain uncontrolled on standard therapy, including suffering unpredictable flares of disease activity or experiencing unacceptable side effects.

According to Professor Eric Morand, the Head of Rheumatology at Monash Health and the Centre for Inflammatory Diseases at Monash University, the registration of a new option for the treatment in Australia represents a major development in the management of lupus for affected Australians. 

For more details, go to: http://www.gsk.com.au/media-centre_detail.aspx?view=757