ArticleLupus science & medicine2026
Belimumab prevention against organ damage over 8 years and safety up to 13 years: three pooled open-label, long-term extension SLE studies.
Article in Lupus science & medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveExamine long-term glucocorticoid usage, safety and prevention of organ damage in patients with SLE treated with belimumab plus standard therapy (ST).
methodsThis
resultsAltogether, 1304 patients enrolled in the LTE studies; 1299 received ≥1 dose of belimumab and were included in the modified intent to treat population. Of these, 1221 (94%) patients were female and at enrolment had a mean (SD) age and disease duration of 39.7 (11.6) and 7.2 (6.7) years, respectively. Mean (SD) baseline Safety of Estrogens in Lupus Erythematosus National Assessment-SLE Disease Activity Index (SELENA-SLEDAI) and Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology Damage Index (SDI) scores were 8.2 (4.3) and 0.7 (1.2), respectively. The most frequently used SLE concomitant medications at any time after first dose of belimumab were glucocorticoid (GC) (94.1%), antimalarials (74.6%) and immunosuppressants (56.4%). Approximately 50% of patients reduced their GC dose to ≤7.5 mg/day in the first 3 years, increasing to 73.6% by the end of year 8. Mean (SD) changes in SDI score to year 8 did not exceed 0.3 (0.6). Overall, 97.5% of patients had ≥1 adverse event (AE) up to 13 years. While 40.4% had ≥1 serious AE, the incidence of AEs leading to belimumab discontinuation generally remained low over time (10.7%).
conclusionsPatients with SLE treated with belimumab reduced GC use and had minimal to no organ damage progression over 8 years. Robust and consistent safety data up to 13 years support the well-established favourable safety profile of belimumab, with no new safety concerns.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.