Iqra Mumal, MSc,  —

Patients who take either Esbriet (pirfenidone, sold by Genentech) or Ofev (nintedanib, by Boehringer Ingelheim) — two anti-fibrotic therapies approved to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis — often experience significant gastrointestinal side effects, a Dutch study shows. The study, “Self-reported Gastrointestinal Side Effects of Antifibrotic Drugs in…

The presence of auto-antibodies (self-directed antibodies) known as antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies do not correlate with disease severity or survival in North American patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), according to a new study. The study, “Prevalence and Clinical Significance of Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibodies in North American Patients with…

Patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) have, on average, only slight cognitive impairment compared to healthy people. Also, IPF patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea have worse cognitive impairment. The study with those findings, “Impact of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea on the cognition in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis,”…

Treatment with Ofev (nintedanib) offers less clinical benefit to patients with severe idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) than to those with mild-to-moderate disease, but does improve outcomes if these patients are able to continue on treatment over the longer term, a new study shows. Controlling the therapy’s side effects will be essential…

East River BioSolutions has received a $224,566 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance the development of laboratory tools that can aid in the study of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Development of effective therapies for IPF…

Mesenchymal stem cells derived from the bone marrow of people with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) perform basic cell functions, like growing and dividing, more poorly than do these cells from healthy people of the same age, a study reports. The study, “Senescence of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells from…

Veracyte will present new results that showcase the ability of the Envisia Genomic Classifier to provide reliable data that helps physicians diagnose interstitial lung disease (ILD) — including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) — at CHEST 2018 meeting. Veracyte also will present new results about the capability of the…

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has granted $12 million to researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to continue studying two lung diseases — idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and chronic lung allograft dysfunction. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is characterized by progressive scarring of lung tissue which leads to difficulty breathing. Chronic lung allograft dysfunction is a complication…

Astragaloside IV — a compound isolated from a traditional Chinese medicinal plant — was found to reverse epithelial–mesenchymal transition, a process crucial to the progression of fibrosis, through its impact on a protein called FOXO3a, a study by researchers in China reports. The study, “Astragaloside IV modulates TGF-b1-dependent epithelial-mesenchymal…

Galectin Therapeutics was issued a patent for its lead investigative therapy GR-MD-02 for the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the company announced. GR-MD-02 is a carbohydrate-based medicine that binds and stops the action of the galectin-3 protein, which is directly involved in multiple…