News

FibroGen’s investigational compound pamrevlumab has received fast track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The agency’s decision follows review of the double-blind PRAISE Phase 2b study (NCT01890265) results, which showed that, over 48 weeks, intravenous…

September is recognized as Pulmonary Fibrosis (PF) Awareness Month, and the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF) is suggesting a host of ways to get involved in increasing awareness for the disease. Last year, PFF’s awareness efforts on social media reached 915,000 people. This year, the organization hopes to increase that…

The American Lung Association is promoting Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month through September with educational videos featuring lung transplant recipient Randy Cooke, who shares his tips and experience in dealing with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), the most common form of the disease. September was originally designated Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness…

A research team from the University of Arizona (UA) College of Medicine – Tucson was given a $4.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to study two experimental treatments believed to delay or possibly reverse excessive scar tissue formation in the lungs of patients with…

Low levels of the homeobox only protein x (HOPX) in lung samples from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients are linked to lung function decline and disease progression, a new study suggests. The study, “Dynamic expression of HOPX in alveolar epithelial cells reflects injury and repair during the…

The Envisia Genomic Classifier test for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) diagnosis received a draft Medicare local coverage determination (LCD) through the MolDx (Molecular Diagnostics) service program, according to Veracyte. The decision is a key step in making the test widely available to patients, the company says.

Updated international guidelines to help clinicians diagnose idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) were recently published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. These new 2018 clinical practice recommendations are the result of a collaborative effort between experts from four major respiratory societies — the American…

A new in vitro lung tissue-on-a-chip system mimics tissue stiffening in pulmonary fibrosis (PF), and offers an accurate and rapid way to test treatment candidates, according to a new study. The study, “Fibrotic microtissue array to predict anti-fibrosis drug efficacy,” was published in the journal Nature…

Lung cancer is more prevalent among men with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) than women, and affects smokers at a higher rate, according to a systematic review of published studies. Researchers also found that squamous cell carcinoma is the most common type of lung cancer reported in IPF patients. The study, “…

Modifying the dose of Esbriet (pirfenidone) can effectively reduce the number of treatment-related adverse events without affecting the drug’s potential to manage idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a new retrospective analysis of data from Phase 3 clinical trials shows. The findings of this recent post-hoc analysis were published in…