Position on the use of anifrolumab in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus with insufficient efficacy of standard therapy in real-life clinical practice. Comments from Russian experts

   Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a heterogeneous autoimmune disease characterized by unpredictable exacerbations and outcome. Many SLE patients receiving standard therapy (ST) do not achieve the recommended treatment goal of remission or Lupus Low Disease Activity State (LLDAS). Currently, there is still great dissatisfaction with ST in SLE, especially with long-term treatment with glucocorticoids and immunosuppressants. The recently approved type I interferon receptor antagonist anifrolumab (AFM) may be promising in SLE patients who do not respond adequately to ST. Phase III efficacy studies of AFM have demonstrated higher remission rate and lower LLDAS activity in patients treated with AFM compared to placebo. This publication contains comments from Russian experts on the article by Y. Tanaka “Viewpoint on anifrolumab in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and a high unmet need in clinical practice”.