The Food and Drug Administration approved the first new drug for lupus in more than 50 years, a milestone in the effort to mine data from the human genome to discover and develop new medicines.
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Benlysta is a bioengineered antibody that blocks a protein called BLyS, or B-lymphocyte stimulator, which is elevated in lupus and other autoimmune diseases and is believed to contribute to production of cells that attack blood vessels and other healthy tissue.
Human Genome Sciences discovered the drug under its founder William Haseltine through a then-novel strategy of mining a library of human DNA that its scientists compiled. A $125 million investment from Glaxo's predecessor company, SmithKline Beecham, supported the effort.
Researchers hunted for genes whose function wasn't necessarily known, but whose characteristics indicated they played a role in health and disease. Conventional wisdom then, said Dr. Haseltine, was that you couldn't use a gene to find a drug without knowing what the gene did.
Ultimately it took only a few weeks to find the BLyS gene—one that others had spent years hunting for without success, Dr. Haseltine said.
(..)
Benlysta is a bioengineered antibody that blocks a protein called BLyS, or B-lymphocyte stimulator, which is elevated in lupus and other autoimmune diseases and is believed to contribute to production of cells that attack blood vessels and other healthy tissue.
Human Genome Sciences discovered the drug under its founder William Haseltine through a then-novel strategy of mining a library of human DNA that its scientists compiled. A $125 million investment from Glaxo's predecessor company, SmithKline Beecham, supported the effort.
Researchers hunted for genes whose function wasn't necessarily known, but whose characteristics indicated they played a role in health and disease. Conventional wisdom then, said Dr. Haseltine, was that you couldn't use a gene to find a drug without knowing what the gene did.
Ultimately it took only a few weeks to find the BLyS gene—one that others had spent years hunting for without success, Dr. Haseltine said.
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