Johnson & Johnson's Stelara shows promise against lupus in study

San Diego

JOHNSON & Johnson's blockbuster psoriasis drug Stelara led to a significant reduction in disease activity in patients with systemic lupus compared with a placebo in a mid-stage clinical trial, according to data released on Saturday.

Stelara, a biotech drug known chemically as ustekinumab, is already approved for psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and Crohn's disease and had third-quarter sales of US$1.12 billion.

In the trial of 102 patients with active lupus despite being on standard therapy, 60 per cent of those who received Stelara experienced improvement on a scale that measures disease activity after 24 weeks of treatment. That compared with improvement in 31 per cent of patients who received a placebo on top of standa…