Systemic lupus erythematosus
The rate of SLE varies between countries, ethnicity, and sex, and changes over time. In the United States, one estimate of the rate of SLE is 53 per 100,000; other estimates range from 322,000 to over 1 million. In Northern Europe the rate is about 40 per 100,000 people. SLE occurs more frequently and with greater severity among those of non-European descent. That rate has been found to be as high as 159 per 100,000 among those of Afro-Caribbean descent. Childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus generally presents between the ages of 3 and 15 and is four times more common in girls.
William A. Haseltine
Benlysta was approved for the treatment of lupus by the US FDA in 2010. The approval of Benlysta fulfilled the hopes that the new genomic method of drug discovery would lead to the treatment of disease that had resisted prior attempts at treatment. Additionally Human Genome Sciences developed a monoclonal antibody, Abthrax, for the treatment and prevention of Anthrax infections. Abthrax was approved by the FDA and is currently stockpiled by the US government. Haseltine directed research on an antidote to anthrax immediately following the anthrax attacks of 2001.