New Hope For Sjögren's Disease Treatment

What is Sjögren's Disease?

People living with Sjögren's disease know it's not just dryness. The disease causes joint pain and swelling, life-altering fatigue, small fiber neuropathy, lymphoma, tooth loss, and an inability to cry, to name a few symptoms and sequelae. Some sufferers have little to no dryness but experience disability from other other symptoms and secondary conditions. Sjögren's can cause dysfunction of major organs and increased risk of lymphoma.

Current treatment options for Sjögren's are similar to related autoimmune conditions like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis (e.g. disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, immune suppressants, and corticosteroids). Patients with dry eye and dry mouth may be offered options to help increase moisture production. There are currently no treatment options created and tested specifically for Sjögren's disease.

New Treatments on the Horizon

Treatment options may soon be expanded with the first Sjögren's-specific drugs and biologics undergoing final phases of clinical trials before being submitted to market. Novartis injectable ianalumab has met its primary endpoints in two phase 3 clinical trials. This means that the new biologic has demonstrated improvement in patients where placebo has not, including improvement in dryness symptoms. Amgen's dazodalibep is undergoing a long-term safety and tolerability study as well as two studies for patients with moderate to severe disease activity and symptoms. Vyvgart, a drug currently approved for treatment of myasthenia gravis, another autoimmune condition, is also being evaluated in a phase 3 clinical trial for treatment of Sjögren's disease.

Impact of Innovation

While current treatment options are useful in managing Sjögren's for many patients, others still struggle to control symptoms and minimize damage done by the disease. These new treatments offer options for better disease management and higher quality of life for patients whose condition is not sufficiently helped with currently available medications.

In addition to providing new options for Sjögren's patients, these drugs may play a part in discovering new aspects of the disease as well as related diseases. As new drugs are developed and new information gathered, researchers can develop better diagnostic testing and search for cures.

References

1. Novartis LLC. Novartis announces both ianalumab Phase III clinical trials met primary endpoint in patients with Sjögren’s disease. Novartis. Published 2025. https://www.novartis.com/news/media-releases/novartis-announces-both-ianalumab-phase-iii-clinical-trials-met-primary-endpoint-patients-sjogrens-disease

2. National Library of Medicine. Two-arm Study to Assess Efficacy and Safety of Ianalumab (VAY736) in Patients with Active Sjogren’s Syndrome (NEPTUNUS-1). Clinicaltrials.gov. Published 2025. Accessed September 10, 2025. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05350072?id=NCT05350072&rank=1

3. National Library of Medicine. Three-arm Study to Assess Efficacy and Safety of Ianalumab (VAY736) in Patients with Active Sjogren’s Syndrome (NEPTUNUS-2)Three-arm Study to Assess Efficacy and Safety of Ianalumab (VAY736) in Patients with Active Sjogren’s Syndrome (NEPTUNUS-2). Clinicaltrials.gov. Published 2025. Accessed September 10, 2025. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05349214?id=NCT05349214&rank=1https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05349214?id=NCT05349214&rank=1

4. National Library of Medicine. A Safety and Efficacy Study of Dazodalibep in Participants with Sjögren’s Syndrome (SS) with Moderate-to-Severe Symptom State. Clinicaltrials.gov. Published 2025. Accessed September 10, 2025. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06245408?id=NCT06245408&rank=1

5. National Library of Medicine. A Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Dazodalibep in Participants with Sjögren’s Syndrome (SS) with Moderate-to-severe Systemic Disease Activity. Clinicaltrials.gov. Published 2025. Accessed September 10, 2025. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06104124?id=NCT06104124&rank=1

6. National Library of Medicine. A Long-term Extension Study of Dazodalibep in Participants with Sjögren’s Syndrome (SS). Clinicaltrials.gov. Published 2025. Accessed September 10, 2025. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06747949?limit=10&sort=@relevance&cond=Sjogren%27s%20Disease&intr=Dazodalibep&rank=2https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06747949?limit=10&sort=@relevance&cond=Sjogren%27s%20Disease&intr=Dazodalibep&rank=2

7. National Library of Medicine. A Study of the Efficacy and Safety of Efgartigimod in Patients with Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome (Unity)A Study of the Efficacy and Safety of Efgartigimod in Patients with Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome (Unity). Clinicaltrials.gov. Published 2025. Accessed September 10, 2025. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06684847?limit=10&sort=@relevance&id=NCT06684847&rank=1

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