A Clinical Study to Evaluate Ianalumab in Participants With Diffuse Cutaneous Systemic Sclerosis

• Rheumatic disease other than dcSSc, including limited cutaneous disease (lcSSc) or sine scleroderma at the screening visit. Secondary Sjogren's disease and scleroderma myopathy are not exclusionary.
• Positive anti-centromere antibody (ACA+) without positive ATA or anti-RNAP3 autoantibody result at the screening visit
• Previous improvement (decrease) in mRSS > 10 units
• Pulmonary disease with FVC ≤ 50% of predicted or diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO, corrected for hemoglobin) ≤ 40% of predicted at the screening visit
• WHO Functional Class 3 or higher assessment for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH, as defined on right heart catheterization), receiving IV therapy for PAH or evidence of other moderately severe pulmonary disease
• Participants treated with cyclophosphamide within 12 weeks prior to Baseline.
• Prior use of a B-cell depleting therapy other than ianalumab (e.g., rituximab, other anti-CD20 mAb, anti-CD22 mAb, or anti-CD52 mAb) administered within 36 weeks prior to randomization, or as long as B cell count is less than the lower limit of normal or baseline value prior to receipt of B cell-depleting therapy (whichever is lower).
• Treatment with biologic agents, such as intravenous immunoglobulin or monoclonal antibodies, including marketed drugs, within 12 weeks or 5 half-lives (whichever is longer) prior to baseline visit, unless explicitly allowed in inclusion criteria.
• Treatment with any investigational agent within ≤ 4 weeks (or 5 half-lives of the investigational drug, whichever is longer) of the baseline visit.
• Use of anti-fibrotic agents including colchicine, D-penicillamine, pirfenidone, or tyrosine kinase inhibitors (e.g., nintedanib, nilotinib, imatinib, dasatinib) in the 4 weeks prior to baseline visit. Patients with SSc-ILD requiring antifibrotics for management of ILD during the study, as per investigator judgement, should be excluded.
• Previous treatment with chlorambucil, bone marrow transplantation or total lymphoid irradiation.
• Women of childbearing potential, defined as all women physiologically capable of becoming pregnant from menarche until becoming post-menopausal, unless they are using highly effective methods of contraception (failure rate < 1% per year) while taking study treatment and for 6 months after stopping study treatment.

Other protocol-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria may apply.