Cumbersome security procedures, rising airfares, and shrinking legroom have made commercial air travel difficult enough these days — even for healthy passengers. Imagine how much harder it is for patients with rare diseases who must get to doctors’ appointments or clinical trials that are hundreds of miles away from home.
News
Pulmonary rehabilitation — a multidisciplinary intervention designed to manage the symptoms of different chronic lung diseases — may improve the exercise capacity and quality of life of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) without generating any adverse events, a review study has found. The study, “Pulmonary…
Paragonix Technologies and the Lung Transplant Foundation (LTF) are expanding their collaboration to drive the development of several technologies aiming to improve donor lung preservation for transplant. These technologies include the Paragonix SherpaLung Preservation System, a special device designed to ensure lung preservation and viability during transport from…
Proliferation and inflammation of human lung fibroblasts is controlled by small RNA molecules called long non-coding RNAs, a study reports. The study, “Long intergenic non-coding RNAs regulate human lung fibroblast function: Implications for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis,” was published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports. While the cause of…
The New York State Department of Health has authorized the use of Veracyte‘s Envisia Genomic Classifier, the first commercially available test to help distinguish idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) from other interstitial lung diseases (ILD), without the need for risky surgery. Authorization takes effect immediately, making the Envisia…
Indalo Therapeutics has launched a Phase 1 clinical trial testing the company’s lead antifibrotic candidate IDL-2965 for patients with fibrotic diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), an inflammatory liver disease. The biopharmaceutical company announced it has now dosed the first healthy volunteer in the…
Many patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) who are switching from Esbriet (pirfenidone) to Ofev (nintedanib) discontinue treatment, especially if they are underweight or have anorexia while being treated with Esbriet, a Japanese study says. The findings, “Negative impact of anorexia and weight loss during prior pirfenidone…
The pulmonary fibrosis (PF) community is invited to attend the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation‘s PFF Summit, which is the largest healthcare meeting on PF, offering data on the latest research. Attendees will get the chance to learn more about the potential of DNA sequencing and targeted therapies to…
Rare variants in genes that regulate the end regions of chromosomes — called telomeres — are linked with worse survival rates after lung transplant in pulmonary fibrosis (PF) patients, a study suggests. The study, “Lung Transplant Outcomes in Pulmonary Fibrosis Patients with Telomere-Related Gene Variants” was published in the…
Treatment with Ofev (nintedanib) can significantly extend the survival of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), an analysis of pooled data from six clinical trials shows. The analyis, conducted by an international research team, was published in the journal BMJ Open Respiratory Research, in an article titled “…
