Iqra Mumal MSc,  —

Savara Pharmaceuticals announced the publication of two case reports demonstrating that inhaled granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) either eradicated or dramatically reduced Mycobacterium abscessus (M. abscessus) infection, improved clinical outcomes, and was well-tolerated in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). The results were published in the European Respiratory Journal in an…

Humanigen’s anti-inflammatory therapy KB001-A is safe but only modestly effective in cystic fibrosis patients with a Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria infection, a Phase 2 clinical trial indicates. In addition to displaying limited ability to decrease markers of patients’ lung inflammation, it failed to generate substantial decreases in their bacteria levels or improvements in their…

The overall rate at which women with cystic fibrosis are becoming pregnant dropped slightly in recent years — coinciding with the introduction of CFTR modulators and the clinical trials that led to their approval as CF therapies — but appears to be rising again to pre-trial levels, a study reports.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, recently announced that two Phase 3 studies evaluating its tezacaftor/ivacaftor combination therapy have shown statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in lung function in patients with certain mutations associated with cystic fibrosis (CF). The first study, called EVOLVE (NCT02347657), was conducted to…

Corbus Pharmaceuticals recently announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent for the use of anabasum, the company’s lead therapy candidate for the treatment of inflammatory and fibrotic diseases. Anabasum is a synthetic oral endocannabinoid-mimetic drug that binds to a receptor called cannabinoid receptor…

Pulmatrix recently announced that it is presenting positive preclinical data on its antifungal therapy Pulmazole at the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference (NACFC) (Nov. 2-4, 2017). Pulmazole (PUR1900) is based on itraconazole, an antifungal drug, combined with an innovative technology developed by Pulmatrix called iSPERSE, which is a dry powder…

A new tool allows researchers and doctors to visualize a 3D model of a cystic fibrosis (CF) lung that incorporates information about microbes, which may help improve targeted drug delivery, a new study shows. The study, “Three-Dimensional Microbiome and Metabolome Cartography of a Diseased Human Lung,”…

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded Exotect a $224,576 Small Business Technology Transfer grant to develop small molecule therapies to treat cystic fibrosis and other diseases characterized by excessive airway mucous secretion. These include chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. Exotect, a preclinical early-stage Fannin Innovation…

The risk of cystic fibrosis patients with chronic Achromobacter infections dying or having to have a lung transplant is twice as high than in patients who don’t have the bacteria, a study indicates. Researchers published the study, titled “Clinical Outcomes Associated with Achromobacter Species Infection in Patients with…

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, already important to both doctors treating patients and researchers conducting trials, might soon distinguish diseased and healthy tissue in differing colors, improving efforts to map and potentially diagnose and monitor diseases such as cystic fibrosis. A method allowing for two contrasting agents to be visible on MRI scans, called Dual…