News

Prometic recently announced a financial agreement and partnership with Shenzhen Royal Asset Management (SRAM) to develop, manufacture, and commercialize several of its anti-fibrotic products in China, including PBI-4050 for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). PBI-4050 is an anti-fibrotic oral drug, which has demonstrated positive results in a Phase 2 study (NCT02538536) in patients…

The Chicago-based Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF) will hold its inaugural PFF Walk on Sept. 9 to mark PF Awareness Month. More than 400 individuals and 80 teams from across the United States have registered for the event at Chicago’s Lincoln Park. In addition, “virtual walks” will take place throughout the nation…

GLPG1690, an investigational therapy developed by Galapagos to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), prevented further lung decline in a Phase 2a trial, allowing the Belgian pharmaceutical firm to rapidly move forward with the clinical development of this therapy. The trial, called FLORA (NCT02738801), involved randomly assigning 17 IPF patients treatment with GLPG1690 and…

Key leaders in the idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis therapy development industry, representing large pharma and biotech firms, academia  and contract research organizations, will gather at the inaugural IPF Summit in Boston, Aug. 21-23. This forum will cover the latest in IPF drug development, from late discovery to early clinical studies.

A Phase 2 trial testing the investigational therapy pamrevlumab (FG-3019) in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has shown positive and encouraging results, FibroGen, the drug’s developer, announced. In addition, combining pamrevlumab with the FDA-approved IPF therapies Esbriet (pirfenidone) and Ofev (nintedanib) was found to be safe. These results will be…

Three Lakes Partners, a venture philanthropy organization that finances research in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), has launched its $1 million IPF Catalyst Challenge — a competition to fund the most promising ideas in improving quality of life for IPF patients. The challenge is open to nonprofit groups as well as for-profit ventures. The…

Researchers at two universities in North Carolina have developed a new method to expand stem cells isolated from patient’s lung biopsies. A team led by Dr. Jason Lobo, assistant professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina (UNC), and by Ke Cheng, associate professor in the Department of Molecular…

Recent studies have shown that idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) may be caused by senescence, a cellular aging process. Now, a team of German researchers have successfully counteracted this mechanism in cell culture by using senolytic drugs that are able to kill senescent epithelial lung cells. These findings were reported in a study…

The protein vimentin triggers autoimmune reactions in people with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and the intensity of the reactions correlates with the severity of the disease, according to a study. The findings underscore scientists’ belief that autoimmunity — the immune system attacking the body’s own cells instead of invaders — plays…

Thalidomide — a controversial drug that caused thousands of birth defects throughout Europe in the late 1950s and was more recently approved to treat multiple myeloma — may also in fact prevent pulmonary fibrosis (PF), Chinese researchers say.   Their study, “Anti-inflammation and Antioxidant Effects of Thalidomide on Pulmonary Fibrosis in Mice and…