Mary Anne Dooley, David Jayne, Ellen M Ginzler, David Isenberg, Nancy J Olsen, David Wofsy, Frank Eitner, Gerald B Appel, Gabriel Contreras, Laura Lisk, Neil Solomons
BACKGROUND: Maintenance therapy, often with azathioprine or mycophenolate mofetil, is required to consolidate remission and prevent relapse after the initial control of lupus nephritis. METHODS: We carried out a 36-month, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, phase 3 study comparing oral mycophenolate mofetil (2 g per day) and oral azathioprine (2 mg per kilogram of body weight per day), plus placebo in each group, in patients who met response criteria during a 6-month induction trial...
November 17, 2011: New England Journal of Medicine