Final trials are about to get underway in the U.S. on an experimental drug that researchers hope could be a better way to treat lupus.

About 1.5 million Americans have a form of lupus, the  disabling autoimmune disease for which there is no cure. Although lupus can strike anyone, the disease occurs 90 percent of the time in women.

The first patient in the human trial is about to begin treatment with the drug, which is known LupuzorTM, within a few days. The experimental drug has already successfully passed two stages of initial testing. This phase, which is phase III, would be the final step before it could be approved, the researchers said.

If approved, the drug could become the first specific and non-immunosuppressant therapy for the disease.  Currently, there are no effective treatments for lupus other than non-specific corticosteroids and immunosuppressants. These drugs can stop the autoimmune attacks that come with lupus, but they also render patients highly susceptible to multiple infections.

The launch of the human trials was the subject of a meeting involving around a hundred physicians earlier this month in Paris.

Human trials are also set to get underway Europe in mid-January, with final results anticipated by the close of 2017, the researchers said.