Next week’s annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) will throw the spotlight once more, if more light is possible, on Benlysta, Human Genome Sciences’ potential breakthrough treatment for lupus, one of the biggest unmet medical needs.

Full details of the first phase III trial, headline results from which lit a fire under HGS’ share price in July, will be revealed providing an insight into the drug’s efficacy and safety; given that most analysts have been wowed by the initial trial results, any slight doubts over the drug’s commercial potential could be damaging. Other headline acts at ACR include Rigel Pharmaceuticals’ rheumatoid arthritis (RA) drug, R788, with detailed phase IIb results helping to shed more light on the somewhat mixed data reported so far, which could help or hinder ongoing partnership discussions.