Joana Fernandes, PhD,  —

Pulmospheres — tiny, three-dimensional spheres made of lung cells taken from patients — can predict how well a person with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) will respond to medications commonly used to treat the disease, according to a new study. Currently, “flat” cultures of lung cells are  used to study possible effects of drug treatments…

European patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) have lengthy and costly hospital stays, mainly because of acute respiratory events, according to a new study. There is a lack of information about the frequency of acute events among IPF patients, as well as on the outcomes, causes of poor prognosis, and financial burden of…

Evotec and MaRS Innovation have teamed to launch Fibrocor Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company that will be dedicated to developing treatments for fibrotic diseases, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Fibrocor received $2.1 million in financing, including cash from MaRS Innovation, the commercialization arm for 15 academic institutions in Ontario, Canada.

The prognosis for older idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients was the same as that of younger ones in a recent study assessing relative survival rates, suggesting age might not be a factor. Results of the study, “Relationship Between Survival And Age In Patients With Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis,” were published in the…

Promedior, a biotechnology company that focuses on anti-tissue-scarring therapies, has lined up the patients it needs for two Phase 2 studies of PRM-151, an anti-scarring agent it is evaluating for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and myelofibrosis. “We believe attaining these (patient) enrollment milestones speaks to both the…

Treatment with PBI-4050 may be a safe and effective therapy for patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), according to preliminary results from a Phase 2 clinical trial developed by ProMetic Life Sciences. The study (NCT02538536) has enrolled 40 IPF patients at six different sites in Canada to…

Patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) have a high risk of developing other health conditions, according to results of a study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST 2016), held in Los Angeles Oct. 22-26. The results were presented under the title “Longitudinal…

Esbriet (pirfenidone) can be used as a long-term therapy in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients with more severe loss of lung function, according to results presented at the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST 2016), held in Los Angeles from Oct. 22–26. The findings were described in the oral presentation, “…

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a seven-year grant worth $5.2 million to a team of researchers looking into the cellular and molecular mechanisms that promote lung regeneration, and aiming to develop therapies for children with hereditary lung diseases and adults with pulmonary fibrosis…

Although the immune system works to fight pathological agents that invade the body, preventing disease, certain immune cells respond in ways that can grievously aggravate health conditions. A prime example is a damaging immune response that causes pulmonary fibrosis (PF) in people infected with the Paracoccidiodes fungi, according to a study published in the journal PLoS One.