Merck is acquiring Afferent Pharmaceuticals — including its therapeutic candidates targeting the P2X3 receptor, now in clinical testing for neurogenic conditions that include chronic respiratory diseases — under a definitive agreement announced by the two companies. A lead investigational drug developed by Afferent, AF-219, is under evaluation in a Phase 2b dose-escalating study (…
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A study from the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liège at Sart Tilman recently reported that two growth factors, IGFBP-1 and IGFBP-2, are increased in the blood of untreated patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). People receiving treatment had lower IGFBP-2 levels that those who were not treated, indicating the factors might be…
Patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) often exhibit cardiovascular manifestations that affect patients’ morbidity and mortality according to the study”Cardiac manifestations of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis,” published in Intractable and Rare Diseases Research. The authors reviewed evidence that links cardiovascular diseases to IPF and how the co-morbidities…
The Germany-based global pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim recently announced the establishment of a research alliance with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) to discover new targets for treating fibrotic diseases, such as chronic kidney disease (CKD), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The collaborative project, called Harvard Fibrosis Network, is…
New York City-based Kadmon Corp., a biopharma focused on developing therapies for significant unmet medical needs, recently announced the start of the first dosing regimen in a patient in its Phase 2 clinical trial assessing the drug KD025, the company’s rho-associated coiled-coil kinase 2 (ROCK2) inhibitor, for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis…
Germany based Boehringer Ingelheim and France based Inventiva have announced a new multi-year research and drug discovery collaboration and licensing agreement. Under the agreement, Inventiva and Boehringer Ingelheim teams will work on validation of a new therapeutic concept to discover new medicines for treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and other…
A recent study from Korea indicates that sublobar resection is less likely to result in death compared to a lobar resection for lung cancer patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The research report, “Clinical results of sublobar resection versus lobectomy or more extensive resection for lung cancer patients with…
Boehringer Ingelheim and Inventiva recently signed a new multi-year drug discovery and research partnership and licensing agreement. Research teams from both companies will jointly work to validate a new therapeutic concept with the purpose of finding novel therapies for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and other fibrotic diseases. The…
P-Rex1 is a potential novel therapeutic target for pulmonary fibrosis (PF), according to the results of a new study, “Identification of P-Rex1 as an anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrogenic target for pulmonary fibrosis,” published in Scientific Reports. Because little is understood about factors that promote the transition of PF from…
Researchers at Genentech/Roche presented the outcomes of three studies investigating pirfenidone’s action in IPF patients, during the American Thoracic Society (ATS) 2016 International Conference, held in San Francisco, May 13-18. Esbriet, also known by the generic name of pirfenidone, is an antifibrotic agent commonly prescribed as a treatment for…
