New York Yankees legend Bernie Williams is collaborating with Boehringer Ingelheim to raise awareness of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a disease that took the life of his father, Barnabé Williams, in 2001. Williams will participate in the Sin Aliento campaign on Father’s Day, June 18, to encourage those who may have IPF to…
Pulmatrix, which develops inhaled therapies for lung diseases, has licensed the kinase inhibitor compounds that RespiVert has created to inhibit enzymes involved in inflammation. “These new compounds will significantly expand what we believe is already an impressive pipeline of [Pulmatrix’s] drug candidates,” Dr. Robert Clarke, Pulmatrix’s CEO, said in a…
An arm of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is donating equipment that allows for animal-free testing of the effects of inhaled particles on the lungs to select laboratories across the United States and Europe. Valued at more than $400,000, the Vitrocell Systems inhalation device exposes human lung cells to tested materials…
Esbriet (pirfenidone) stops the lung scarring in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) by improving the functioning of mitochondria, cell components that convert food to energy and regulate cell death, according to a study. The therapy centers on mitophagy, the process by which the body purges defective mitochondria. Mitophagy is a mitochondria quality…
Surgery to prevent reflux in patients with interstitial pulmonary disease may slow disease progression, by stopping tiny amounts of contents in the stomach from being repeatedly aspirated into the lungs — a process thought to contribute to disease development in IPF. This was the conclusion of a review looking into gastroesophageal reflux disease —…
Lung Therapeutics announced June 6 that it has completed a $14.3 million Series B financing round to support development of LTI-03, its lead therapy for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). LTI-03 has already showed promising results for other conditions including scleroderma and cardiac fibrosis. The funds will also support clinical trials, now underway in Australia and…
Overproduction of a protein called Sirtuin 6 (Sirt6) inhibits a cell process essential to the lung scarring seen in pulmonary fibrosis, according to a study. The finding suggests that scientists could use Sirt6 to develop therapies that prevent the disease. Scientists call the process that the finding applies to the epithelial to…
The death rate of pulmonary fibrosis patients who were put on a hospital ventilator was seven times higher than those treated without a ventilator, according to a review of thousands of medical records. The study of 22,350 admissions also showed that the cost of treating patients who were put on…
A $6.9 million grant will allow researchers at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine to delve deeper into the science of how air sac epithelial cells in the lungs regenerate. The research team, led by Zea Borok — a professor of medicine at Keck —…
A type of stem cell facilitates faulty signals that lead to the tiny lung-vessel dysfunction in pulmonary fibrosis (PF) and other respiratory diseases, a study indicates. The stem cells, known as mesenchymal progenitor cells, or MPCs, have the ability to evolve into other kinds of cells, including bone, cartilage, muscle…
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