Author Archives: Magdalena Kegel

ANCA vasculitis may trigger inflammation in large blood vessels as well as the small ones the disease is associated with, Japanese researchers reported after noting that three patients had developed an aortic aneurysm. These patients had ANCA vasculitis caused by myeloperoxidase (MPO) antibodies. An aneurysm is an enlarged segment of the…

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has accepted for review ChemoCentryx’s application to approve Avacopan (CCX168) as a treatment for anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis. The company, with its partner Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma, applied for a Conditional Marketing Authorization (CMA) of the medicine. A CMA…

A clinical trial will assess whether low-dose glucocorticoids and Rituxan (rituximab) may be used as a safer way to treat ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV). Researchers at Chiba University Hospital in Japan believe the regimen may be effective and cause fewer side effects compared to current treatment approaches. The trial particularly…

While the treatment of ANCA-associated vasculitis has taken strides away from highly toxic immunosuppressants to include an array of approaches based on biological drugs, there is plenty of room for treatment improvement. Research at the Mayo Clinic is focusing on approaches to prevent relapses of inflammatory disease activity. In a…

Certain types of patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis do not require maintenance therapy if treated with a specific Rituxan (rituximab) approach, according to researchers at the University of Turin in Italy who followed patients for up to 11 years. The study, albeit small, might clear up some confusion about the…

People with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)-associated vasculitis have a lesser chance of relapse if they continue with maintenance treatment for two years instead of one, according to the results of a clinical trial. The trial, led by researchers at the Hôpital Européen Georges-Pompidou in France, also showed that patients…

Nucala (mepolizumab) effectively induced remission in about half of patients with eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) that relapsed or did not respond to treatment, according to results from a Phase 3 clinical trial (NCT02020889). The study found that Nucala reduced…