#3-05E. TULIP-SC: Unlocking At-Home Management for SLE with Subcutaneous Anifrolumab (Arthritis Rheumatol, 2025)

How can we alleviate the burden of monthly infusions for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) patients while maintaining robust disease control? This episode examines the newly published TULIP-SC Phase 3 trial, which evaluates the efficacy and safety of subcutaneous anifrolumab. In this randomized, double-blind study involving 367 adults with moderate-to-severe SLE, weekly subcutaneous injection of 120 mg anifrolumab met its primary endpoint, demonstrating a statistically significant improvement in BICLA response at Week 52 compared to placebo (56.2% vs. 37.1%). Crucially, the study indicates that subcutaneous administration mirrors the established efficacy profile of the intravenous formulation, including clinically meaningful rates of glucocorticoid tapering. However, when critically appraising these results, physicians must note the exclusion of patients with active severe lupus nephritis or severe neuropsychiatric SLE, effectively limiting generalizability regarding these specific severe phenotypes. This publication is vital for your practice as it validates a shift toward at-home self-administration, offering a new therapeutic avenue to improve patient autonomy and reduce healthcare resource utilization without sacrificing clinical outcomes.

Citation: Manzi, S., et al. Efficacy and Safety of Subcutaneous Anifrolumab in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: the Randomized, Phase 3, TULIP-SC Study. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2025.

DOI: 10.1002/art.70041

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