Has the Congressional Lupus Caucus Made Any Progress?
Another goal that was discussed in this meeting? The stepping stones toward a cure.
Introduced in March 2016, a new lupus research plan was developed to help work toward a cure. In 2015, the Lupus Foundation of America requested for the Congressional Lupus Caucus to require updates to a 2007 report, “The Future Direction of Lupus Research”. The resulting new Action Plan for Lupus Research released in 2016 presented a direction based on data from NIH’s research efforts. It also requested an improved understanding of how lupus works. The plan is designed to lead to safe and more effective lupus treatments and curative strategies.
The new Action Plan for Lupus Research is intended to provide efforts to reduce time to diagnosis and aid in the development of services to benefit people with lupus, their caregivers, and healthcare providers. In the New Plan, emphasis on the development of new treatments and clinical trial models were presented.
Rep. Tom Rooney ( R-Florida and one of the Congressional Lupus Caucus’s co-chairs said, “Lupus patients should be hopeful that this new plan will bring positive changes to their lives. Our Caucus thanks the Lupus Research Institute and the Alliance for Lupus Research for working with us to organize this briefing to highlight this plan and the challenges ahead to finding a cure for lupus.”
