Benlysta belimumab regulatory update

The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) said Benlysta belimumab from GlaxoSmithKline offers no additional benefit over "optimized standard therapy" for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) because there were no evaluable data comparing the 2 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. ...