Lupus Nephritis
Recent clinical, regulatory, research and industry developments relating to this disease.
KDIGO 2024 Clinical Practice Guideline for the management of LUPUS NEPHRITIS.
Immune podocytes in the immune microenvironment of lupus nephritis (Review).
What's happening now
An analyst briefing on current research, clinical, regulatory and industry activity surrounding this disease.
- 5 clinical trials expected to report results, the earliest in Q2 2027.
- Q2 2027A Randomized, Double-blind, Parallel Group, Placebo-controlled, Multicenter Phase 3 Trial to Evaluate Efficacy, Safety and Tolerability of Ianalumab on Top of Standard-of-care Therapy in Participants With Active Lupus Nephritis (SIRIUS-LN).
- Q3 2027A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Multi-Center Clinical Trial and Open-Label Extension Study of Sirolimus in Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus-Associated Immune Thrombocytopenia
- Q4 2028A Phase 3, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Multicenter Study of Nipocalimab in Adults With Moderate to Severe Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
- Q2 2029A Phase 3, Randomized, Double-Blind,Placebo-Controlled Parallel Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Enpatoran in Participants With Active Cutaneous Manifestations of Lupus Erythematosus With or Without Systemic Disease Receiving Standard of Care (ELOWEN-2)
- Q3 2029A Phase 3, Multicenter, Double-blind, Randomized, Placebo-controlled, Parallel-group Trial to Assess the Efficacy, Safety and Tolerability of Cenerimod in Adult Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Active Lupus Nephritis in Combination With Background Therapy
Clinical MilestonesView all 11Hide
- 2026-05-20A Multicentre, Randomised, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Phase III Study Evaluating the Efficacy and Safety of Anifrolumab in Asian Participants With Active Systemic Lupus ErythematosusResults posted
- 2026-05-11A Multi-Center, Open-Label Study to Evaluate Safety, Efficacy and Pharmacokinetics of Belimumab Plus Standard Therapy in Chinese Paediatric Patients With Active Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)Results posted
- 2026-05-11A Phase III, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Multicenter Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Obinutuzumab in Patients With ISN/RPS 2003 Class III or IV Lupus NephritisResults posted
- 2026-02-19A Two-cohort, Open-label, Single Arm, Multicenter Study to Evaluate Efficacy, Safety and Tolerability, PK and PD, of Emapalumab in Children and Adults With MAS in Still's Disease or With MAS in Systemic Lupus ErythematousResults posted
- 2026-07-02A Phase 3, Randomized, Double-Blind,Placebo-Controlled Parallel Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Enpatoran in Participants With Active Cutaneous Manifestations of Lupus Erythematosus With or Without Systemic Disease Receiving Standard of Care (ELOWEN-2)Results expected Q2 2029
- 2026-06-18A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Multi-Center Clinical Trial and Open-Label Extension Study of Sirolimus in Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus-Associated Immune ThrombocytopeniaResults expected Q3 2027
- 2026-06-17A Phase 3, Multicenter, Double-blind, Randomized, Placebo-controlled, Parallel-group Trial to Assess the Efficacy, Safety and Tolerability of Cenerimod in Adult Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Active Lupus Nephritis in Combination With Background TherapyResults expected Q3 2029
- 2026-06-05A Phase 3, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Multicenter Study of Nipocalimab in Adults With Moderate to Severe Systemic Lupus ErythematosusResults expected Q4 2028
- 2026-05-22A Randomized, Double-blind, Parallel Group, Placebo-controlled, Multicenter Phase 3 Trial to Evaluate Efficacy, Safety and Tolerability of Ianalumab on Top of Standard-of-care Therapy in Participants With Active Lupus Nephritis (SIRIUS-LN).Results expected Q2 2027
- 2028-12-15A Phase 3 Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Multicenter, Multinational Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Atacicept in Subjects With Active Lupus NephritisWithdrawn
- 2026-03-31A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Parallel-group Study of Ustekinumab in Chinese Subjects With Active Systemic Lupus ErythematosusWithdrawn
- 2028-12-15ClinicalA Phase 3 Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Multicenter, Multinational Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Atacicept in Subjects With Active Lupus NephritisWithdrawn
- 2026-07-02ClinicalA Phase 3, Randomized, Double-Blind,Placebo-Controlled Parallel Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Enpatoran in Participants With Active Cutaneous Manifestations of Lupus Erythematosus With or Without Systemic Disease Receiving Standard of Care (ELOWEN-2)Results expected Q2 2029
- 2026-06-18ClinicalA Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Multi-Center Clinical Trial and Open-Label Extension Study of Sirolimus in Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus-Associated Immune ThrombocytopeniaResults expected Q3 2027
- 2026-06-17ClinicalA Phase 3, Multicenter, Double-blind, Randomized, Placebo-controlled, Parallel-group Trial to Assess the Efficacy, Safety and Tolerability of Cenerimod in Adult Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Active Lupus Nephritis in Combination With Background TherapyResults expected Q3 2029
- 2026-06-05ClinicalA Phase 3, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Multicenter Study of Nipocalimab in Adults With Moderate to Severe Systemic Lupus ErythematosusResults expected Q4 2028
- 2026-05-22ClinicalA Randomized, Double-blind, Parallel Group, Placebo-controlled, Multicenter Phase 3 Trial to Evaluate Efficacy, Safety and Tolerability of Ianalumab on Top of Standard-of-care Therapy in Participants With Active Lupus Nephritis (SIRIUS-LN).Results expected Q2 2027
- 2026-05-20ClinicalA Multicentre, Randomised, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Phase III Study Evaluating the Efficacy and Safety of Anifrolumab in Asian Participants With Active Systemic Lupus ErythematosusResults posted
- 2026-05-11ClinicalA Multi-Center, Open-Label Study to Evaluate Safety, Efficacy and Pharmacokinetics of Belimumab Plus Standard Therapy in Chinese Paediatric Patients With Active Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)Results posted
- 2026-05-11ClinicalA Phase III, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Multicenter Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Obinutuzumab in Patients With ISN/RPS 2003 Class III or IV Lupus NephritisResults posted
- 2026-03-31ClinicalA Multicenter, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Parallel-group Study of Ustekinumab in Chinese Subjects With Active Systemic Lupus ErythematosusWithdrawn
Therapeutic landscape
Therapies with a regulatory footing for this condition, alongside the wider set of agents co-studied with it in the literature.
Approval — Lupkynis is indicated in combination with mycophenolate mofetil for the treatment of adul… (2022)
Approval — Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) Gazyvaro in combination with chlorambucil is ind… (2014)
Approval — Benlysta is indicated as add-on therapy in patients aged 5 years and older with active, a… (2011)
Clinical trials
The current development programme across all trial phases.
Regulatory timeline
Drug regulatory events matched to this condition by indication — EMA.
European Medicines Agency (CC BY 4.0). Events are matched to this condition by drug indication text — approvals/updates for drugs indicated for it, not disease-specific acts.
Research activity
Key research shaping understanding of this disease, combining the latest publications with the most influential evidence.
Major themes3
- Lupus Nephritis2
- Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic1
- Podocytes1
Leading journals3
- Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950)1
- Kidney international1
- Molecular medicine reports1
Leading researchers8
- Berthier CC1
- Bruce AT1
- Chaperot L1
- Denny MF1
- Hodgin JB1
- Kaplan MJ1
- Khandpur R1
- Klinker M1
Affiliations (unnormalised)5
- Basic Medical College1
- School of Public Health1
- Shanxi Bethune Hospital1
- Third Hospital of Shanxi Medical University1
- University of Michigan Medical School1
Related conditions
Diseases frequently studied alongside this one. Number shows shared papers.
Reference
Authoritative identity, definition & identifiers.
Glomerulonephritis associated with autoimmune disease SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS. Lupus nephritis is histologically classified into 6 classes: class I - normal glomeruli, class II - pure mesangial alterations, class III - focal segmental glomerulonephritis, class IV - diffuse glomerulonephritis, class V - diffuse membranous glomerulonephritis, and class VI - advanced sclerosing glomerulonephritis (The World Health Organization classification 1982).
- Disease identity & definition — NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), public domain
- Clinical trials — ClinicalTrials.gov (U.S. National Library of Medicine)
- Research activity — Europe PMC (EMBL-EBI) + OpenAlex-derived paper links
- Related entities are derived from literature co-mention (studied together) — associative, not causal.