Just two weeks ago, I wrote about the approval of GSK/HGS's Benlysta (belimumab) and how that particular FDA decision marked a moment that had been over 50 years in the making: a new therapy being made available for lupus patients.

Yesterday marked an important day for lupus patients and doctors: the FDA announced that it had approved Benlysta (belimumab) for the treatment of seropositive systemic lupus erythematosus. 

This approval has been a long time coming. And to illustrate just how long lupus patients have had to wait for a new therapy, the last new drug approval was for Plaquenil (hydroxychloroquine), which was approved on the day that Albert Einstein died: April 18, 1955!