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Johns Hopkins School of Medicine researchers demonstrated that the smallpox vaccine may reverse established lung fibrosis in mice. The vaccine changed the reactivity of various types of immune T-cells, suggesting that balancing the actions of these immune players could be crucial in developing immunotherapeutic treatments for lung fibrosis. Scientists have known for some…

Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina found that M10, a naturally occurring small peptide, appeared to effectively reduce lung fibrosis in a mouse model of systemic sclerosis, a finding that might lead the way to new treatments for lung fibrosis. Systemic sclerosis can be viewed as the archetypal fibrotic disease,…

Galapagos NV recently announced the launch of an exploratory Phase 2a clinical trial, called FLORA, evaluating the company’s proprietary drug GLPG1690 in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Esbriet (pirfenidone) and Ofev (nintedanib) are the only approved therapies for the treatment of IPF, and both have been shown…

The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF) recently announced the launch of the PFF Patient Registry, which will comprise the foundation’s first comprehensive collection of data from pulmonary fibrosis (PF) patients across America. The first patient was enrolled last week, kicking off patient enrollment in the registry,…

Antegrin Therapeutics recently announced that it is expanding its current medication portfolio to include anti-fibrosis agents that block proteins known as integrins. The drugs were originally discovered at the Center for World Health & Medicine (CWHM) at Saint Louis University. Antegrin already offers several medications that target conditions characterized by fibrosis, including pulmonary…

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine showed that starving a group of immune cells by inhibiting the activity of the enzyme Arginase-1 impairs the cells’ ability to induce an allergic response. The study, “Arginase 1 is an innate lymphoid-cell-intrinsic metabolic checkpoint controlling type 2 inflammation,” published in the journal…

Analysis of pooled data from three international, randomized, and placebo-controlled clinical trails — the Phase 2 TOMORROW trial and two Phase 3 INPULSIS trials — showed that nintedanib (Ofev) is an efficient and safe drug for the treatment of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The study, “Nintedanib…

Researchers discovered that mice exposed to bleomycin — a common pulmonary fibrosis model — displayed more intense fibrotic activity if they lacked the signaling factor PTEN. The findings suggest that exploring the signaling pathway involving PTEN might offer new insights into disease mechanisms, and aid the search for new treatment…

Hyaluronan synthase 2 (HAS2) deletion from fibrotic fibroblasts induces senescence (gradual deterioration) in the cells and fibrotic clearance in mouse models of lung fibrosis. The findings, reported in the study “Hyaluronan synthase 2 regulates fibroblast senescence in pulmonary fibrosis” and published in the journal Matrix Biology, suggest…

Nintedanib (marketed as OFEV by Boehringer Ingelheim) has shown very good results in clinical trials in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Nevertheless, some patients still experience disease exacerbation when treated with the drug. A case study described the successful reinstallation of the drug after an exacerbation — raising hopes…