Patricia Inácio, PhD, science writer —

Verona Pharma recently announced the company’s accomplishments in the last six months, including an update to the company’s clinical trial in cystic fibrosis (CF) and positive interim results for its investigational therapy RPL554. RPL554 is an inhaled dual inhibitor of two enzymes, phosphodiesterase 3 and 4, and was previously shown to…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising patients and healthcare professionals to not use any liquid products made by PharmaTech, LLC due to possible contamination with Burkholderia cepacia bacteria, which may cause serious infections in patients with chronic lung diseases, including cystic fibrosis (CF). The regulatory agency previously had…

Concert Pharmaceuticals’ sale of its cystic fibrosis therapy CTP-656 to the larger Vertex Pharmaceuticals will lead to cystic fibrosis patients obtaining faster access to the therapy, Concert CEO Roger Tung predicted. He also said that the $160 million that Concert obtained from the sale will allow the company to advance its hair-loss therapy alopecia areata CTP-543 into…

Sweat from infants with cystic fibrosis contains substances that could be used as biomarkers of the disease and even identify new disease mechanisms, a study reports. The research, published in the journal ACS Central Science, was titled “The Sweat Metabolome of Screen-Positive Cystic Fibrosis Infants: Revealing Mechanisms beyond Impaired Chloride Transport.” Scientists…

A new method of isolating lung stem cells could help speed the development of stem-cell based therapies for lung diseases, including cystic fibrosis, according to a University of North Carolina study. That method is extracting them with a tube from the mouth to the lung rather than surgery. The team…

In a groundbreaking study, scientists reported editing and correcting, for the first time, a defective gene in human embryos. Additionally, this gene-editing technique appeared to be safely performed without introducing additional harmful genetic alterations. These results represent a key achievement in human genetic engineering and highlight a potential way…

A substance found in a Japanese cypress tree can deliver iron to cells that are unable to obtain it because of faulty proteins, a finding that has implications for cystic fibrosis, according to a study. Researchers said their molecular-prosthetics approach could not only address cystic fibrosis (CF), but also other conditions…

Researchers at TGV-inhalonix said their company’s drug, Mul-1867, has a powerful effect against clinical isolates of fungi in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and other severe lung infections. The study “In vitro activity of a novel compound, Mul-1867, against clinically significant fungi Candida spp. and Aspergillus spp.” appeared in the International Journal of Antimicrobial…

Scientists at Boston University’s Center for Regenerative Medicine have made two stem cell discoveries that could help doctors treat cystic fibrosis (CF) without having to resort to transplants. They prevented stem cells from creating cells for a lot of organs at once and producing only the lung cells they need…

Vertex Pharmaceuticals recently announced positive results of two Phase 3 clinical trials, the EVOLVE and EXPAND studies, evaluating the effects of a combination of tezacaftor (VX-661) and ivacaftor (sold under the brand name Kalydeco) in cystic fibrosis (CF). The results showed that the new combined therapy significantly improved…