Taming Lupus

Patients with the auto-immune disease lupus who resist traditional therapies are often treated with the cancer drug cyclophosphamide. The chemotherapy destroys faulty immune cells so that healthy new immune cells can grow, but the treatment usually lasts two years. Rheumatologists are now giving patients larger doses of cyclophosphamide intravenously for four days instead of the traditional low-dose, long-term treatment, helping patients get back to their normal routine sooner.