One of my most vivid memories of my late friend Serena Lawrence is when we sat down to discuss my becoming a columnist for Bionews Services. I’d just been diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a lung disease characterized by fibrosis in the lungs that prevents oxygenation. Serena wrote…
Being Vulnerable With a Chronic Illness Can Be Beneficial
Biopharmaceutical company Scholar Rock received $25 million from Gilead Sciences to continue the development of potential therapies to treat the progression of fibrotic diseases, including pulmonary fibrosis (PF). This funding is a milestone payment, based on Scholar Rock’s preclinical studies in animals showing the effectiveness of therapeutic…
I’ve never been hospitalized for more than a day, but I have spent a fair amount of time visiting others. Even though it’s sometimes hard to show up, I always make an effort. The last thing I want is for my people to feel abandoned when they are coping with…
Galecto Biotech and PharmAkea, two clinical-stage pharmaceutical companies with robust pipelines in fibrotic diseases and cancer, have merged into a single company. Following the merger, the combined company will maintain the Galecto name, as well as its current senior management team, which includes Hans Schambye as CEO. Galecto,…
I enjoy the holiday season, especially Christmas celebrations. As my siblings and other family members were born in Poland — I am the only one born in the U.S. — we follow a traditional Polish Christmas, holding most of the festivities on Christmas Eve, or Wigilia. Special foods are…
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a little-known, complex, and misunderstood rare disease. I hadn’t heard of it before my diagnosis at the tender age of 28, just over three years ago. Learning to live with a fatal lung disease as a young adult is one of the hardest things I’ve…
By blocking activity of the protein GSK-3 beta, the investigational therapy 9-ING-41 slowed disease progression and improved lung function in mice with pulmonary fibrosis (PF), a study found. The study, “Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3β Inhibition with 9-ING-41 Attenuates the Progression of Pulmonary Fibrosis,” was published in the…
Low daily doses of Esbriet (pirfenidone), less than 1200 mg per day, are equally effective at slowing lung function decline in people with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) as higher daily doses, a real-world analysis found. Lower doses may help to limit therapy…
Use of INOpulse — inhaled nitric oxide — increased physical activity and improved patient-reported outcomes in people with pulmonary fibrosis (PF) who are at risk of pulmonary hypertension (PH), new topline clinical trial data suggest. INOpulse, developed by Bellerophon Therapeutics, is a device that delivers nitric oxide (NO)…
In December, I wrote a column about slowly emerging from a month of being sick with pneumonia and the flu. I shared the importance of doing our best as patients living with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) to stay away from those who are sick, and why common illnesses…
