Until the launch of GSK’s Benlysta in 2011, people with lupus didn’t have a treatment option that targeted the disease’s underlying cause, relying instead on steroids and immunosuppressants to keep symptoms under control. AstraZeneca’s Saphnelo followed Benlysta to market in 2021.
Both are biologic drugs, however, requiring an intravenous infusion in the case of Saphnelo and either an IV infusion or subcutaneous injection for Benlysta.
Deucravacitinib is a different type of anti-inflammatory drug, designed to inhibit an enzyme that’s grouped with a family of proteins known as Janus kinases. JAK inhibition has been a successful approach to treating rheumatoid arthritis with drugs like Pfizer’s Xeljanz and AbbVie’s Rinvoq. Those drugs have had safety concerns, however, and are associated with heart-related complications.
