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Review
. 2020 Oct;7(1):e000430.
doi: 10.1136/lupus-2020-000430.

Candidate drug replacements for quinacrine in cutaneous lupus erythematosus

Daisy Yan  1   2 , Robert Borucki  1   2 , Richard D Sontheimer  3 , Victoria P Werth  4   2
Affiliations
Review

Candidate drug replacements for quinacrine in cutaneous lupus erythematosus

Daisy Yan et al. Lupus Sci Med. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) is a disfiguring and potentially disabling disease that causes significant morbidity in patients. Antimalarials are an important class of medication used to treat this disease and have been the first-line systemic therapy since the 1950s. Quinacrine, in particular, is used as an adjuvant therapy to other antimalarials for improved control of CLE. Quinacrine is currently unavailable in the USA, which has taken away an important component of the treatment regimen of patients with CLE. This paper reviews the evidence of available local and systemic therapies in order to assist providers in choosing alternative treatments for patients who previously benefited from quinacrine therapy.

Keywords: autoimmune diseases; lupus erythematosus; methotrexate; systemic.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: DY, RB and RDS have nothing to disclose. VPW reports personal fees from Genentech, Medimmune, Amgen, Resolve, Lilly, Principia, BMS, AC, Nektar, EMD Serona, Astra Zeneca, Vielo, Abbvie, Kyowa Kirin, GSK and Cugene, outside the submitted work; grants and personal fees from Biogen, Gilead, Celgene and Janssen; in addition, VPW has patents Cutaneous Lupus Erythematous Disease Area and Severity Index and CDASI with royalties paid.

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