Judy Foreman

Nationally Sindicated Fitness, Health, and Medicine Columnist

  • HOME
  • Books
  • BIO
  • BLOG
  • COLUMNS
  • Q&A
  • PRESS
  • CONTACT

Q & A Search

Q & A Topics

Acupuncture Airplane Masks Alcohol Abuse Alcoholic Cooking Alexander Technique Allergies Anesthesia Antibiotics & Food Antidepressants Anxiety & Exercise Appetite & Sickness Arthritis Arthritis & Tendonitis Arthritis Surgery Artificial Sweeteners Aspirin & Airplanes Aspirin & Ibuprofen Asthma Inhalers Autism Baby Faces Back Pain Bad Breath Bad Shoes Balance & Age Bariatric Surgery Bed Wetting Beta Blockers Black Cohosh Body Fat Body Mass Index Body Odor Bogus Warnings Bone Density Botox Injections Bovine Hormones BP Machines Breast Cancer Breastfeeding & Cancer Broken Heart Burning Mouth Syndrome Burning Toast Butt Surgery Calcium Scan Cancer Risk Cancer Vaccine Cancer-Prone Personality Canker Sores Cellphones Chewing Gum Chewing Ice Children & Anesthesia Chinese Medicine Chiropractic Treatment Chlorine Chorus & Health Christmas Tree Allergy Clemens Treatments Clogged Sinuses Coenzyme Q10 Cold Cold Contagion Cold Medications and the Prostate Cold/Flu Colonoscopy Colonoscopy Risk Computer Use Constipation Contact Lenses Cosmetics Dark Circles Declining Fertility Dental X-rays Deodorant & Breast Cancer Diabetes & Feet Diet & Acid Balance Dietitian Disposable Contacts Diverticulitis Dogs or Cats Drug Information Ear Infections Ear Lobes Ear Wax Eating Broccoli Eating Protein Eggs Electric Shocks Electronic Records Emergency Room Emotions & Cancer Endometriosis Energy Drinks Estrogen & The Skin Estrogen Patches Ethics Consult Exercise & Appetite Exercise & Health Exercise & Stretching Expired Medicines Eye-color Facial Muscles Falling Asleep Feeling Cold Female Hair Loss Fertility Drug Clomid Fertility Monitors Fever Fighting Fever Fingernails First Aid Kits Fizzy Drinks Flat Feet Flu Vaccine Forehead Thermometers Free Radicals French Fries Frozen Chicken Gallblader Polyps Garlic Garlic Supplements General Anesthesia Grapefruit Juice Gray Hair Green Light Laser Therapy Green Tea Gregariousness Grilled Foods Group Therapy Growth Hormone Grumpiness Hair Relaxer Hand Sanitizers HDLs & LDLs Heading Hearing Loss Heart Cancer? Heart Disease Heart Problems Heart Rate & Exercise HIV Medication Home Thermostat Hospital Discharge Hospital Rash Humidifier Use Husbands Age & Birth Defects Hydrocephalus? Hyperactivity Ibuprofen Ibuprofen for Colds Inflammatory Breast Cancer Insomnia Interrupted sleep Iron Supplements Is Sedation Safe Itchy Feet Jogging & Smoking Joint Lubricants Keyboard/Bacteria Kidney Problems Kidney Stone Kidney Stones Kids Food Knuckles Lactose Intolerance Laser Surgery LASIK surgery Lead in Lunch Boxes Liposuction Liver Failure Local Honey Lose Fat Low Blood Pressure Low-Carb Diet Lung Cancer Lupus Macular Degeneration Magnets & Pain Mail Stool Samples Male Baldness Marathon Runners Medical Treatment Meditation Melanoma Self Test Menstrual Cramps Menstruation Suppression Mesotherapy Migraines and Breast Cancer MiniTransplant Miscarriage Moles Mononucleosis Morning or Evening Execise? Mosquito Repellent Mothball Fumes MSG Muscle Builder Muscle Pain Muscle Tears & Ibuprofen Nasal Steroids Newborns Hips Night Terrors Nosebleeds Oats are Great Open Biopsy Osteoporosis Osteoporosis Drug Pacifier Use Painkillers Pajamas vs. Clothes Pelvic Muscle Tear Penicillin Allergy Pets & Health Pets Colds & Flu Pilates Pins and Needles Plantar Fasciitis Poison Ivy Polio Prayer Books Preeclampsia Pressure Ulcers Probiotic Bacteria Probiotics Prostate Biopsy Prostate Cancer Protective Fabrics Psoriasis Red Wine Reflux/Endoscopy Restless Leg Resveratrol Retail Health Clinics Running & Knee Injury Running Nose Salt Schizophrenia Seasonal Affective Disorder Shingles Sleep Apnea Sleep Deprivation Sleeping Pills Smiling-Depression Sneezing Snow Shoveling Spleen Store Bought Glasses Strength Training Stretching Stroke Test Sudden Deafness Sugar Guidelines Sun Screens Sun-seeking Sunburn Sunglasses Sunscreens Swearing & Pain Swimming Tai Chi & Health Tanning Palors Teen Pregnancy Teenage Depression Teeth Grinding Thyroid Cancer Tight Clothes Tinnitus TMJ /TMD Toenail Fungus Toilet Seat Tongue Piercings Tonsils Toothbrush Toothbrushes Trampoline Treadmill Exercise Urinary Tract Infections Urination Varicose Veins Viagra Virtual Colonography Vitamin D Vodka Warts Weekly Workouts Weight Gain Weight Loss Weight Loss Surgery Wet Hair & Colds Whiten Teeth Yoga & Bone Density

I have the auto-immune disease lupus, and I’m discouraged because there’s been no new approved lupus drug for 45 years. Is there

June 9, 2008 by

There is, thanks to an explosion in knowledge about how cells “talk” to each other chemically in the immune system, which goes awry in SLE, or systemic lupus erythematosus. But it will be five to 10 years before a truly effective drug hits the market because a number of recent, albeit methodologically imperfect, studies, have been disappointing.

In lupus, which strikes 1.5 million Americans, mostly women, the immune system “can attack any organ” in the body, including the skin, joints, kidneys, brain, lungs and the lining of the heart, said Dr Joan Merrill [cq], medical director of the Lupus Foundation of America. Aspirin has long been used to treat lupus.

But the first prescription drugs specifically approved for lupus by the US Food and Drug Administration were the steroids, prednisone and prednisolone, and that was back in 1964. These drugs damp down the immune system, quieting lupus. But as with other immune suppressants such as Immuran, which is used in organ transplant patients, these drugs raise the risk of infection, as well as serious weight gain, acne, diabetes and bone-thinning.

Anti-malarial drugs such as Plaquenil are also approved for lupus. They quiet the immune system by acting on so-called “toll-like receptors,” said Dr. Lee Simon [cq], a rheumatologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Despite the lack of a blockbuster drug, “it’s an incredibly exciting time,” Simon said, because of other drugs in the pipeline and basic research into the genetic abnormalities in lupus, in particular, a gene for alpha-interferon that might be too active in lupus patients. “The pipeline of new drugs is incredible,” said Merrill. Both Simon and Merrill consult for multiple companies making new lupus drugs.

In April, hopes were dashed when a drug called Rituxan made by Genentech and already on the market for non-Hodgkins lymphoma and rheumatoid arthritis, failed to reduce the severity of lupus. But another study of Rituxan for lupus patients whose kidneys are affected is still ongoing.

Other drugs now being tested for lupus include Riquent, Lymphostat B, Ocrelizumab, Epratusumab, Cellcept, and Orencia (already approved for rheumatoid arthritis). So, there is hope, but it’s going to take time.

Copyright © 2025 Judy Foreman