Scores of events are afoot worldwide to mark Feb. 28, Rare Disease Day 2019. The activities aim to raise awareness about rare diseases and the millions of people — estimates run as high as 350 million — they are thought to impact. Across countries, patients, caregivers and advocates will paint faces, wear…

Evotec and Galapagos will work together to develop a strategy to target fibrosis affecting several organs, the companies announced. The collaboration will focus on the development of small molecules designed to specifically target a new fibrosis biomarker identified and validated with Evotec’s proprietary platforms for fibrotic diseases…

A new online platform that pulmonary fibrosis (PF) patients, their friends, family, and caretakers to connect and get information about the disease, was launched recently by the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF) and Responsum Health. The service is free and its purpose is to offer PF patients access to trusted…

Canada’s SQI Diagnostics and the University Health Network (UHN) will work together to advance the development and approval of new rapid protein assays and a point-of-care (POC) diagnostic device to help surgeons assess the viability of lungs and other organs for transplant. This could represent an important step…

Last week I wrote about how difficult it is to face reality as my pulmonary fibrosis progresses. This process has involved letting go of control as I face how little I can do now. The most striking example of…

Elderly patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) have high morbidity and mortality, and experience a variety of comorbidities both before and after receiving their diagnosis, a study finds. The findings of the study, “Characterizing idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients using US Medicare-advantage health plan claims data,” were published in…

Last year, I wrote a gratitude miniseries reflecting on the positive things that took place each month. While I am not continuing that miniseries this year, I did reflect on why this month was so great for me after a colleague commented on how at ease I looked…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the way for X-Rx’s idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) therapy candidate X-165 to move into the first clinical tests.  The FDA approved X-Rx’s…

Results of a Phase 2b clinical trial suggest actigraphy as a relevant tool to detect meaningful clinical changes in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD) when treated with Bellerophon Therapeutics’ product INOpulse. PH-ILD includes PH patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (PH-IPF). The…

Shortly after my idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) diagnosis, my doctor and I had a discussion about employment. While he supported my desire to work at the time, he was very open with his concerns about my ability to do so as my disease progresses. While he couldn’t…