Dr David Jayne's team led by Dr Rona Smith at Addenbrookes are undertaking research into an existing drug, Alemtuzumab, to see if it proves to be effective in treating ANCA related vasculitis.
Alemtuzumab, which is one of the new generation of monoclonal antibodies, like Rituximab. Alemtuzumab has been used for treating MS, RA and other auto-immune diseases. It has also been used at Addenbrookes to treat 71 difficult or relapsing cases of ANCA Associated Vasculitis (AAV) with very good results.
This study is called Aleviate, is an initial trial, using a group of 24 patients who will be carefully monitered, to establish the effectiveness and safety of Alemtuzumab.
As there is no outside funding available, the Clnical Research Unit at Addenbrookes are funding the research and the admin costs. Vasculitis-uk have contributed £12,000 in August of this year to provide nursing support for the study. Another charity is funding the lab costs.
A further aim of the study is to develop new blood tests for assessing vasculitis activity. This could be of significant benefit for all people who have vasculitis and for any people diagnosed with vasculitis in the future.
