Fibrosis News and Research

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Fibrosis is the growth of fibrous tissue.

Vertex announces 16 grant recipients of Hep-C Circle of Care program

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced that it has awarded 16 grants totaling approximately $1.5 million to a variety of academic, patient and community groups as part of the Vertex Hep-C Circle of Care program, a pilot competitive grants program designed to foster innovative approaches to patient care and support people living with chronic hepatitis C.

5 Nov 2011

Final results from Vertex KALYDECO second of two Phase 3 studies on CF

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced final results from the ENVISION study, the second of two pivotal Phase 3 studies of KALYDECO, a medicine in development that targets the defective protein that causes cystic fibrosis.

4 Nov 2011

Role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance in clinical cardiology

Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) has undergone substantial development and offers important advantages compared with other well-established imaging modalities.

3 Nov 2011

Galectin Therapeutics forms Liver Fibrosis Clinical Trials Advisory Board

Galectin Therapeutics Inc., the leader in developing carbohydrate-based therapeutic compounds to inhibit galectin receptors, today announced the formation of its Liver Fibrosis Clinical Trials Advisory Board comprised of key opinion leaders from Emory Hospital and School of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard School of Medicine, University of Michigan Hospital and School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital and School of Medicine, and University of Wisconsin Hospital and School of Medicine.

3 Nov 2011

Ivacaftor drug improves lung function in people with cystic fibrosis

A new study has confirmed that the drug, ivacaftor (VX-770), significantly improves lung function in some people with cystic fibrosis (CF). The results of the phase III clinical trial study, "A CFTR Potentiator in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis and the G551D Mutation," led by Bonnie W. Ramsey, MD of Seattle Children's Research Institute and the University of Washington, were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

3 Nov 2011

Promedior's Pentraxin-2 effectively suppresses liver fibrosis

Promedior, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company developing novel therapies to treat fibrotic, inflammatory and neovascular diseases, today announced that data from preclinical studies of Serum Amyloid P (Pentraxin-2) will be presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD 2011), being held November 4-8, 2011, in San Francisco, CA.

3 Nov 2011

Final results from Medivir's TMC435 phase IIb study on genotype-1 hepatitis C

Medivir AB, a research-based speciality pharmaceutical company focused on infectious diseases, today announces final results from the ASPIRE study.

3 Nov 2011

PSTC, FNIH Biomarkers Consortium launch clinical study to improve detection of kidney injury

The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) Biomarkers Consortium announced today the launch of a two-year clinical study aiming to advance the acceptance of new biomarkers designed to detect drug-induced kidney injury in clinical trials.

2 Nov 2011

Researchers identify small-molecule drug candidates for many metabolic conditions

A new discovery by Californian scientists may lead to a pharmaceutical breakthrough for a wide range of illnesses that involve the hydration of cells that line the inner surfaces of our body's organs and tissues. In a new report appearing in the FASEB Journal, the researchers describe how they used high-throughput screening to identify small-molecule drug candidates which help cells bypass defective channels that normally move salt and water through cell membranes.

2 Nov 2011

Vampire-like bacteria has potential to serve as living antibiotic

A vampire-like bacteria that leeches onto specific other bacteria - including certain human pathogens - has the potential to serve as a living antibiotic for a range of infectious diseases, a new study indicates.

1 Nov 2011

Researcher's compound disables bacteria instead of killing them

After 70 years, antibiotics are still the primary treatment for halting the spread of bacterial infections. But the prevalence of antibiotic resistance is now outpacing the rate of new drug discovery and approval. A microbiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) has discovered a different approach: Instead of killing the bacteria, why not disarm them, quashing disease without the worry of antibiotic resistance?

29 Oct 2011

Researchers identify stem cells responsible for lung regeneration

Guided by insights into how mice recover after H1N1 flu, researchers at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, together with researchers at A*STAR of Singapore, have cloned three distinct stem cells from the human airways and demonstrated that one of these cells can form into the lung's alveoli air sac tissue.

28 Oct 2011

Blood biomarker panel can predict survival in IPF patients

A panel of blood proteins can predict which patients with the progressive lung disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) are likely to live at least five years or to die within two years, say researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Centocor R&D.

27 Oct 2011

European CHMP adopts positive opinion for Pharmaxis Bronchitol Marketing Authorisation

Pharmaceutical company Pharmaxis today announced the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has adopted a positive opinion recommending the granting of a Marketing Authorisation for Bronchitol, clearing the way for the product to be used in Europe "for the treatment of cystic fibrosis in adults as an add-on therapy to best standard of care."

24 Oct 2011

Vertex initiates INCIVEK combination Phase 3b study for hepatitis C

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced the initiation of a Phase 3b study called CONCISE that will evaluate the potential for treatment with INCIVEK (telaprevir) combination therapy to be shortened to 12 weeks in people with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C who have the 'CC' variation near the IL28B gene.

24 Oct 2011

Synergy commences plecanatide Phase II/III trial in chronic idiopathic constipation

Synergy Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a developer of new drugs to treat gastrointestinal (GI) disorders and diseases, today announced initiation of dosing of patients in a major Phase II/III clinical trial of plecanatide to treat chronic idiopathic constipation.

24 Oct 2011

Proper daily care and maintenance of central lines might reduce infection rate in PICUs

By following a few basic rules for handling central venous catheters, nurses and doctors at a group of children's hospitals have, in three years, prevented nearly a thousand infections and saved more than a hundred children's lives and millions of dollars, according to a study by investigators at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and elsewhere.

24 Oct 2011

NIH stops triple-drug therapy clinical trial for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, has stopped one arm of a three arm multi-center, clinical trial studying treatments for the lung-scarring disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) for safety concerns.

22 Oct 2011

RCSI study: Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency more prevalent in Ireland

Researchers from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), Beaumont Hospital, and Trinity College Dublin have conducted a study which has found that Ireland has one of the highest incidences in the world of a genetic condition that causes severe hereditary emphysema.

20 Oct 2011

Coughing may signal trouble for patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

A new analysis has found that coughing may signal trouble for patients with the lung-scarring disease known as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The study, published in the journal Respirology, found that patients with the condition who also cough are more likely to develop advanced forms of the disease that may be life threatening.

19 Oct 2011