Imre Corp. said the Food and Drug Administration has approveda clinical trial of its Prosorba column for the treatment ofpatients suffering from a major subcategory of lupus,systemic lupus erythematosus.

About 500,000 people in the United States are affected by SLE,for which there is no treatment, according to Edward Yoshida,vice president of regulatory affairs at the Seattle company(NASDAQ:IMRE).

The Prosorba column, which is used to treat a diseasedpatient's blood outside of the body, removes gamma Gimmunoglobulin (IgG) antibody and IgG immune complexes fromplasma.

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