The Lupus Trust was set up as a registered charity in 1991. Its aim is to support lupus research at Guy's Hospital and raise awareness of lupus.

In 2018 the charity was renamed the Lupus Trust and is now under the auspices of Guys and St Thomas Charity, Registered charity no. 1160316 (Fund 504).

The Louise Coote Lupus Clinical Trials Unit, led by Professor David DCruz, has established itself as a centre of excellence for conducting clinical trials of new treatments in patients with lupus. Indeed, the unit was the largest UK recruiter of patients for the trials of belimumab (Benlysta) in SLE which has become the first drug to be licensed for treating lupus in over 50 years.

The Louise Coote Lupus Unit is internationally recognized by clinicians around the world. There have been large numbers of visiting clinicians from all over the world who have spent time in the clinics and wards learning how to manage patients with complex lupus and related disorders. This has led to many successful international collaborations.

Our research is clinical, based on patients and healthy volunteers. All clinical research is highly regulated by strict ethical standards and is overseen by the Research and Development Office as well as by national bodies such as the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency.