Immunovia has announced that the principal aim of a large retrospective study, performed in collaboration with Lund University’s IDEA Centre, has been achieved.

The data confirms that IMMray biomarker signatures can distinguish Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) from three other main autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren’s disease and vasculitis with an average accuracy exceeding 90%. These results are extremely encouraging because the symptoms of SLE mimic other rheumatic, autoimmune diseases leading to more than 50% of the patients being initially misdiagnosed, mainly due to ambiguous laboratory test results. It is estimated that as many as 5 million people suffer from SLE and it may take up to 3 years from symptoms appearing to diagnosis and treatment.

“Since IMMray biomarker signatures measure the overall immune system response in blood, we have previously been able to distinguish SLE versus healthy individuals with very good results. However, this new study is particularly interesting because we designed it in collaboration with several leading clinicians to test whether we could distinguish SLE from other main autoimmune diseases that have overlapping symptoms. Exceeding 90% accuracy already in this first differential study clearly demonstrates that IMMray signatures have a great potential in diagnosing SLE with a simple blood test. Further studies are already planned to verify and validate these first results in larger independent cohorts,” said Professor Wingren, PI and Leader of the IDEA Centre at Lund University and Immunovia´s Chief Technology Officer.

“The capability of IMMray™ biomarker signatures to diagnose SLE and differentiate it from the other autoimmune diseases with an accuracy above 90% is a remarkable breakthrough. These very convincing results give us the confidence to dedicate more efforts to the autoimmunity to expand the IMMray pipeline. In the short term, we will complete ongoing studies, establish collaborations with key opinion leaders and initiate additional clinical studies to further optimize performance and validate these results,” said Immunovia´s CEO, Mats Grahn.