Redwood City, California-based Third Rock Ventures, LLC, a healthcare venture firm, recently announced $45 million in Series A financing to launch the biotechnology start-up company Pliant Therapeutics, Inc., with a mandate to discover, develop, and commercialize breakthrough drug treatments for fibrotic diseases. Pliant’s product engine has the potential to address the needs…
Country music artist Joe Nichols is partnering with Boehringer Ingelheim to raise awareness about idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Nichols’ father, Michael Nichols, suffered with IPF symptoms for three years before receiving the diagnosis, and he died from the condition at age 46. As part of a national education campaign called Breathless: A…
Morristown, New Jersey-based Capsugel, a provider of empty two-piece hard capsules and an innovator of drug delivery systems, and Pulmatrix, of Lexington, Massachusetts — a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company and developer of inhaled therapies for treating pulmonary fibrosis and other pulmonary diseases with its patented iSPERSE technology, are collaborating to develop…
Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., recently announced that it has completed a $47.1 million Series D preferred stock financing, which will be used to advance clinical trials into the company’s complement immunotherapy programs for diseases that include idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The complement system is part of…
A study from the University of Madras, India, showed that celastrol — a component of an extract from the Thunder God Vine root — was able to reduce inflammation, collagen deposition, and alveolar damage in a rat model of pulmonary fibrosis (PF). The effects were likely the result of a broad activation of…
Researchers investigating pulmonary artery size in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients have found that the pulmonary artery:ascending aorta diameter (PA:A) ratio could predict IPF clinical outcome, representing a potential new tool for stratifying patients to identify those most at risk. The study, “Pulmonary artery size as a predictor of outcomes in idiopathic…
A Mayo Clinic study reported that patients with fibrotic interstitial lung disease are at a threefold higher risk of substantial morbidity when hospitalized for acute lung exacerbations, whether or not they have idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). While the frequency and outcomes of acute respiratory exacerbations in IPF patients are rather well-documented, corresponding…
An interaction between cells in the lungs’ vasculature appears to spur tissue regeneration and is a potential target for therapies against fibrosis, according to a study titled “Targeting of the pulmonary capillary vascular niche promotes lung alveolar repair and ameliorates fibrosis,” published in the journal Nature Medicine. Lungs, as a result of their…
Genetic factors might drive at least part of the risk for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), particularly in familial forms of the disease, and a review from the Nanjing University School of Medicine, China, presented an updated view of genetic risk factors for IPF. The article, “Candidate genes of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis:…
Researchers recently developed new nanoparticles more efficient at delivering in vivo (living) RNA interference (RNAi) for silencing pulmonary fibrosis-associated genes. The study entitled “Self-assembled Micelle Interfering RNA for Effective and Safe Targeting of Dysregulated Genes in Pulmonary Fibrosis” was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. RNAi, a natural…
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