Study the Efficacy and Safety of VAY736 and CFZ533 in SLE Patients

This study is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and therapeutic efficacy of treatment with either VAY736 (ianalumab) or CFZ533 (iscalimab) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) to enable further development of these compounds as treatment in this disease population

The study consists of a 28-day screening period, a blinded treatment period of 28 weeks where randomized patients received treatment with investigational drug (ianalumab or iscalimab) or placebo. At the end of Week 29 visit, the patients enter the open label treatment phase where patients in active treatment group continued to receive active treatment and patients in placebo group started active treatment with ianalumab/iscalimab until Week 49. After completion of the open-label treatment period, all patients enter a Follow-Up period in order to monitor safety and efficacy up to Week 69. The Week 69 visit is the End of Study (EoS) visit for patients in Cohort 2 (CFZ533). Study duration for patients in Cohort 2 will be approximately 18 months. For Cohort 1 (VAY736). Patients who do not achieve B-cell recovery by Week 69 Visit will enter into a Secondary Follow-Up period until achieving B cell recovery criteria (B-cell count is at \>= 50 cells/µl or at least 80% of baseline levels). Safety follow-up visits will be scheduled as deemed appropriate until the patient achieves the B cell recovery criteria, followed by an EoS 4 weeks later.