[Novel strategy in lupus therapy: from the peptide P140 to Lupuzor™]

Autoimmune diseases are illnesses that occur when the body's tissues are attacked by its own immune system. This review describes the path between the discovery of a synthetic peptide able to delay the development of lupus in mouse models that spontaneously develop lupus-like disease, and the results of multicenter phase IIb clinical trials including lupus patients. If the 2nd phase IIb and phase III results confirm the 1st phase IIb clinical trial, this therapeutic peptide could have a major impact in the treatment of patients with lupus, an autoimmune disease affecting at least five million patients in the world, in majority young women for whom there is no specific treatment today.