News

Bexotegrast, an oral anti-fibrotic treatment candidate from Pliant Therapeutics, is being assessed in a Phase 2b clinical trial in people with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Called BEACON-IPF, it intends to recruit about 270 patients at clinical sites around the globe. Details on site locations and when recruitment will start…

Suppressing the production of a protein called NPAS2 eased signs of lung scarring (fibrosis) in a mouse model of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a new study showed. The NPAS2 gene, which codes for NPAS2, also was found to be more active in the lungs of IPF patients than in those…

Treatment with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) bound to tiny vesicles loaded with Ofev’s active ingredient reduced lung inflammation and scarring while  promoting lung tissue repair in a mouse model of pulmonary fibrosis (PF), a study has shown. This combination strategy worked better than Ofev alone in both young…

Long-term exposure to even low levels of sulfur dioxide (SO2), an air pollutant with a strong odor, may place people at a higher risk of developing idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a study in over 400,000 U.K. residents found. The association’s strength grew as genetic susceptibility to the disease and…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to review an application seeking the approval of Ofev (nintedanib) for children ages 6 to 17 with fibrosing interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). If approved, Ofev would become the first and only therapy available to treat children with fibrosing ILDs, according…

People with Sjögren’s syndrome-associated interstitial lung disease (ILD) who develop pulmonary fibrosis (PF) have poorer survival than those without PF, a study in Taiwan finds. Researchers found that continuously low albumin levels — a sign of inflammation — could act as a risk factor for developing PF. A smaller…

A three-protein signature can be used to differentiate between idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and other lung disorders and may be a noninvasive biomarker of the rare disease, according to a new study. While the scientists stressed that further research will be needed to validate the…

People with shorter telomeres, or chromosome “caps,” may be at a greater risk of developing idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a study reported. This work “also provided some interesting genetic evidence to prove that obesity and exposure to tobacco smoking as a fetus might also contribute to the development of…

Bridge Biotherapeutics has joined the Prognostic Lung Fibrosis Consortium, known as PROLIFIC — a global nonprofit working to speed the development of personalized treatment strategies for pulmonary fibrosis (PF), The long-term goal of PROLIFIC is to develop tests to detect biomarkers of distinct stages of the rare…

Treatment with a molecule designed to activate the SHP-1 protein led to prolonged survival and alleviation of disease-associated lung changes in a mouse model of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a study found. SHP-1 activation appeared to exert its protective effects by inhibiting the survival and pro-fibrotic activity of a…