A drop in air pollution due to COVID-19 restrictions has eased overall symptoms for about one in every six people diagnosed with respiratory disorders, a British Lung Foundation (BLF) survey of more than 14,000 people in the U.K. revealed. These findings prompted the Taskforce for Lung Health — a coalition…
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People with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) who undergo a bilateral lung transplant may have better postoperative lung function than those receiving single lung transplants, but long-term survival appears to be similar between the two procedures, a review study shows. While these findings may help guide clinicians’ decisions,…
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients taking antifibrotic therapies Ofev (nintedanib) or Esbriet (pirfenidone) had a mortality risk that was 37% lower than patients not treated with such therapies, a large registry-based study reports. The study, “Survival and Course of Lung Function in the Presence or Absence of Antifibrotic Treatment…
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), an arm of the European Medicines Agency, has recommended the approval of Ofev (nintedanib) for the treatment of progressive fibrosing interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). This positive opinion follows Ofev’s approval for that same…
Low blood levels of haptoglobin-related protein (HRP), a protein with antioxidant properties, may serve as a biomarker of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), according to a recent study. The data also highlighted that IPF patients show significant changes in the levels of proteins involved in inflammatory and immune responses, as…
Stem cells derived from the placental amniotic membrane — one of the membranes of the amniotic sac that surrounds a baby while it is still in the womb — have the ability to slow the progression of lung tissue scarring in a mouse model of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF),…
While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic won’t have much of an impact on cash available for new biotech startups, it has begun to cause delays in the development of gene therapies to treat a variety of rare diseases. That’s the consensus of industry experts who spoke in a May 26 webinar…
A real-world, multi-center study in Poland confirms the effectiveness and safety of two-year treatment with Esbriet (pirfenidone) for people with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The study “A multicentre retrospective observational study on Polish experience of pirfenidone therapy in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: the PolExPIR study” was published…
Ofev (nintedanib), an oral medication by Boehringer Ingelheim, is now approved to treat people with progressive fibrosing interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) in the U.S. and Canada. These approvals, by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada, come on the heels of findings from the…
European authorities must step up efforts to screen babies for a multitude of genetic disorders, a panel of experts suggested during a May 14-15 online medical conference. The session was part of the 10th European Conference on Rare Diseases & Orphan Products (ECRD2020) — which was to have occurred…
