To test its effectiveness, researchers conducted a three-year trial involving 362 patients from the U.K., the U.S., France and South Korea. Half were given a 300 milligram dosage of anifrolumab and the rest received a placebo, both of which were administered intravenously once every four weeks for a total of 48 weeks.
Overall, they found, the number of patients who had a positive response in the anifrolumab group was 47.8 percent—fewer than half the total but more than 16 percentage points ahead of the placebo group . But these events did tend to be less severe in the anifrolumab group. Of those who took the placebo, 17 percent experienced a severe health event, like pneumonia or a worsening of symptoms. That compares to 8.3 percent of patients in anifrolumab group—one of whom died from pneumonia during the trial period.
Experts writing in an accompanying editorial call for greater flexibility when it comes to measuring success.
Dr. House would be proud