Pemphigus Disease Clinical Trial
Official title:
Comparison Between Monoclonal Antibody CD20 Treatment (Rituximab (mabthéra))and General Corticotherapy Treatment in Patients With Pemphigus
Pemphigus is a severe and sometimes life-threatening disease with a mortality rate between 5
and 10 percent depending on the severity of disease and age of patients.
The standard of care is high doses of corticosteroids (CS) (usually, prednisone, 1 to 1.5.
mg/kg/day, which are often associated with immunosuppressive drugs i.e., azathioprine,
mycophenolate mofetil, cyclophosphamide, cyclosporine, although only one randomised study
has demonstrated the superiority of the combination of corticosteroids and immunosuppressive
drugs as compared to corticosteroids alone (9). Because of the low frequency of the disease,
control trials are difficult to conduct. Evaluation of the different treatment regimens
proposed, i;e; corticosteroids alone, CS and immunosuppressive drugs, IV immunoglobulins or
new therapeutic regimens such as rituximab (an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody directed
against B- lymphocytes) or immunoadsorbtion.
n/a