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BENLYSTA PATIENT CASE

Dr. Don Thomas, Rheumatologist

Paid consultant to GSK at the time of filming.

  • TRANSCRIPT

    DR. THOMAS: My name is Doctor Don Thomas, I’ve been a rheumatologist for over 25 years, and I’m in private practice in Greenbelt, Maryland.

    ON-SCREEN TEXT: Dr. Don Thomas, Rheumatologist
    Paid consultant to GSK at the time of filming.

    ON-SCREEN TEXT: “Meet a patient on BENLYSTA”
    Stay tuned for Important Product Information

    DR. THOMAS: The first day I met her, I came into the room, and she was one of those patients you just love to see in the office. She had a radiant smile, a bubbly personality, and she told me this story about how she’d been making straight A’s in college, and but at some point, she started to feel rundown, tired.

    DR. THOMAS: She started to get some achiness in her joints, and she developed a rash, some thinning of the hair and just wasn’t feeling well.

    ON-SCREEN TEXT:

    • Joint pain
    • Rash
    • Hair thinning

    DR. THOMAS: So, she saw a physician who did some laboratory work. She clearly had systemic lupus erythematosus. I gave her an intramuscular corticosteroid injection to help her feel better right away, added an antimalarial medication. I taught her about ultraviolet light protection as well, which is very important, and… watched her very closely to see how she did over the next few months.

    ON-SCREEN TEXT: “She clearly had systemic lupus erythematosus”

    DR. THOMAS: She gradually got better and then at about the six-month mark, which I expect to see the most significant improvements from any antimalarial, I came into the room, and I said, “Hi, how are you doing?” and she said, “OK.” And again, that’s oftentimes what they say, and I said, “What do you mean by OK?” and she said, “Well, I feel much better on the medication, but several days a month I start to feel run down again. I have trouble keeping up with my schoolwork. My rash gets tender, I start to lose a little bit of hair again, and I’m so fatigued and tired that I feel like my lupus is robbing a few days every month from me at that point."

    ON-SCREEN TEXT: “My lupus is robbing a few days every month from me”

    DR. THOMAS: Well, I’m a huge believer in getting patients into complete remission with lupus. We know that even low disease activity causes ongoing organ damage which we want to stop, and my definition of remission is – no active inflammatory disease anywhere. No active symptoms, nothing active on physical exam, and the laboratory tests being normal as well. And at that point she still had a high anti-double stranded DNA level, her complement levels were still low.

    ON-SCREEN TEXT: “Even low disease activity causes ongoing organ damage”

    DR. THOMAS: So, we made the mutual decision to place her on BENLYSTA.

    ON-SCREEN TEXT: “We made the mutual decision to place her on BENLYSTA”

    DR. THOMAS: By around the third month mark she was feeling better, and in fact her labs were even getting better but at the sixth month mark she was feeling much better, her disease activity was a lot better, in fact her anti-double stranded DNA normalized, her C3 and C4 complement levels normalized.

    ON-SCREEN TEXT: Patient experience may not be representative of all BENLYSTA patients.

    DR. THOMAS: And I’ve had the pleasure of following her all these years. In fact, I just saw her yesterday in the office, and I went into the room, and I said, “How are you doing?” and she said, “Okay”. And again, that’s what they all say, and I said, “What do you mean by okay?”, ...

    ON-SCREEN TEXT: “She was doing so well”

    DR. THOMAS: ... and she said, “I feel so much better”, and that’s always music to a rheumatologist’s ears, and I told her, “That’s how I always want you to feel”.

    ON-SCREEN TEXT: “I feel so much better”

    Patient experience may not be representative of all BENLYSTA patients.

    DR. THOMAS: Thank you for watching and visit the BENLYSTA website for more information.

    ON-SCREEN TEXT: BENLYSTAHCP.com

    VOICEOVER:

    IMPORTANT PRODUCT INFORMATION

    For patients on standard therapy: Aged 5 years and older with active systemic lupus erythematosus or active lupus nephritis. Not for use in severe active CNS lupus. Reported: serious & sometimes fatal infections; PML; acute hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis & death, and infusion-related reactions; and, depression & suicidality. Avoid live vaccines. Common adverse reactions: nausea, diarrhea, pyrexia, nasopharyngitis, bronchitis, insomnia, pain in extremity, depression, migraine, pharyngitis, & injection site reactions.

    ON-SCREEN TEXT:

    IMPORTANT PRODUCT INFORMATION

    For patients on standard therapy: Aged 5+ and older with active SLE or active lupus nephritis. Not for use in severe active CNS lupus. Reported: serious & sometimes fatal infections; PML; acute hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis & death, and infusion-related reactions; and, depression & suicidality. Avoid live vaccines. Common adverse reactions: nausea, diarrhea, pyrexia, nasopharyngitis, bronchitis, insomnia, pain in extremity, depression, migraine, pharyngitis, & injection site reactions.

    Please see additional Important Safety Information and full Prescribing Information, including Medication Guide, on the BENLYSTAHCP.com website.

    ON-SCREEN TEXT:
    Benlysta
    (belimumab)
    Intravenous Use 120 mg/vial
    Subcutaneous Use 200 mg/mL

    GSK Logo

    Trademarks are owned by or licensed to the GSK group of companies.
    ©2022 GSK or licensor. BELVID220034 August 2022. Produced in USA.

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Paid consultants to GSK at the time of filming.