Malika Ammam, PhD,  —

A study evaluating the impact of palliative care on patients with serious diseases, such as cystic fibrosis (CF), and their caregivers, found it to improve patients’ quality of life and disease symptoms, and brought a sense of satisfaction to both patients and their caregivers. Palliative care, however, did not improve survival.

The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), a key protein that is defective in people with cystic fibrosis, is abundant in the gastrointestinal tract of people and may be a reason why CF patients are troubled by gastrointestinal problems, a recent collaborative study by researchers at Peking University Health Science Center and Shantou…

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics (CFFT) recently awarded Laurent Pharmaceuticals a Therapeutics Development Award, valued to up to $3 million, to support a Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating the company’s drug candidate, LAU-7b, as a potential treatment for cystic fibrosis (CF). “People with CF have an exaggerated and persistent inflammatory response to…

Alcresta Therapeutics recently launched the commercialization of the digestive enzyme cartridge Relizorb to help patients unable of breaking down fats, particularly adults with cystic fibrosis (CF) who depend on enteral nutrition. Cystic fibrosis is a life-threatening genetic condition caused by mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene…

Collaborative research between Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands), McGill University (Canada), and the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany) has identified a promising approach that could lead to the development of an efficient treatment for cystic fibrosis (CF). The paper, “Characterization and small-molecule stabilization of the multisite tandem binding between 14-3-3…

A review study suggests that positive expiratory pressure (PEP) devices are more effective than other airway clearance approaches in reducing pulmonary exacerbations in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), but of similar effectiveness in other measures, like lung function and mucus drainage. The study, entitled “Positive expiratory pressure physiotherapy for airway clearance in people with cystic…

Quest Diagnostics recently announced findings from several research projects detailing the clinical value of genetic tests to help predict or detect diseases. Data from the studies, which are being presented at the 2015 American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Meeting being held Baltimore, Maryland from October 8-10, 2015, show that screening…