The Food and Drug Administration approved the first new drug for lupus in more than 50 years, a major milestone in the effort to mine data from the human genome to discover and develop new medicines. The drug, called Benlysta, will be co-marketed by Human Genome Sciences Inc., a Rockville, MD, company that has been on a roller-coaster journey for nearly two decades to develop the medicine, and GlaxoSmithKline PLC, whose investment in the biotech company was one of the first big bets a major pharmaceutical company placed on genomic research. Analysts expect the drug to reach blockbuster status, with sales eventually topping $1 billion a year.
