Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a lung condition resulting in inflammation and stiffening of the lung, often associated with connective tissue diseases (CTDs). ILD causes reduction in lung volume, shortness of breath, cough and fatigue therefore has high impact on quality of life and is also the leading cause of death in participants with these conditions. The study will assess whether treatment of CTD-ILD participants with belimumab in addition to standard therapy will result in the stabilization and/or improvement of lung function and improve symptoms associated with ILD with an acceptable safety profile.
Participants with persistent/worsening active inflammatory disease who have failed to achieve their treatment goal, i. e., those who have experience lack of expected treatment benefit (clinically meaningful improvement in FVC), fail to demonstrate sustained lung function stability or continue to experience worsening of ILD despite initiation of standard therapy or failed to tolerate standard therapy.
Documented diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM; including polymyositis, dermatomyositis, anti-synthetase syndrome), Sjogren's syndrome (pSS), or mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) in accordance with internationally recognized classification criteria
Diagnosis of inflammatory and/or fibrotic ILD on High Resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT) with a total disease extent of greater than or equal to (≥) 10% of the whole lung
Evidence of persistent active/worsening ILD
Diagnosis of ILD other than CTD-ILD.
Primary diagnosis of Systemic Sclerosis (SSc).
Participants with rapidly progressive disease (absolute drop of 10% or more of FVC between screening and baseline visit and/or recent pulmonary hospitalization).
FVC ≤ 45% of predicted, or a Diffusing Capacity of the lung for Carbon Monoxide (DLco) (corrected for hemoglobin) ≤ 40% of predicted at screening as confirmed by central reader