IQWiG says Benlysta, Fampyra have no benefit

The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) on Wednesday released negative benefit assessments of lupus drug Benlysta belimumab from GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE:GSK; NYSE:GSK) and multiple sclerosis therapy Fampyra fampridine from Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB).

IQWiG's assessment said Benlysta offers no additional benefit over "optimized standard therapy" for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) because there were no evaluable data comparing the two treatments. IQWiG said GSK's supporting studies had limited standard therapy options; for example, the studies excluded the use of glucocorticoids. Standard therapy consists of chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine; NSAIDs; glucocorticoids; azathioprine and cyclophosphamide. Benlysta is partnered with Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:HGSI), which was off $0.15 to $14.51 on Wednesday. ...