27 Bi-specific antibodies

lupus nephritis (n=43), was principally a safety study and not powered to look for clinical benefit, and the BLISS-BELIEVE study of 215 patients showed no difference between the patients given belimumab plus rituximab and those given belimumab and placebo. 5 These conflicting data mean we cannot, at this point, know for certain if belimumab plus rituximab will be the best approach.It may be that the sequence of giving the antibodies is important and, in this regard, BEAT-LUPUS suggests that rituximab followed by belimumab might be more beneficial for patients with lupus. 3 Intriguingly, in BEAT-LUPUS, IgA antibodies to double-stranded DNA proved to be predictive of who was most likely to benefit from rituximab followed by belimumab. 6