Towards a Novel Treatment Response Measure for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (TRM-SLE)

Systemic lupus erythematosus is an incurable autoimmune disease that can cause debilitating symptoms, reduce quality of life and lead to premature death. It is widely acknowledged that problems with the outcome measures used to determine the efficacy of new therapies in clinical trials has significantly hindered therapeutic progress. My PhD research has sought to understand why current trial endpoints are failing, conducted studies that fill knowledge gaps relevant to measuring treatment response in SLE, and developed a detailed step-by-step plan, currently being implemented, that will lead to a new outcome measure that can be incorporated in future SLE clinical trials.