News

Even with the coronavirus pandemic ravaging Europe and much of the world, patient advocate Lucia Monaco, PhD, of Italy remains confident that the Paris-based nonprofit she chairs will see the approval of 1,000 new rare disease therapies by 2027. That group, the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) —…

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has awarded up to $5 million to Armata Pharmaceuticals to advance its potential treatment AP-PA02 — a phage therapy against multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients — into a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial. Phage therapy harnesses the properties of …

A video game aimed at encouraging young cystic fibrosis (CF) patients to do their breathing exercises is being tested at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and other sites across the U.K. Konglomerate Games, a company comprised of fourth-year students from Abertay University in Scotland, developed…

Kristine Durkin, a West Virginia University graduate student, is carrying out a study to assess whether teenagers with cystic fibrosis (CF) are meeting their nutritional requirements, and identify ways to help them improve their diets. CF teenagers often struggle to maintain healthy weight. They usually receive two to three…

Canadian patient advocates and leaders in the field of cystic fibrosis (CF) are meeting with Canadian government officials to lobby for changes to proposed regulatory reforms that are preventing CF patients from accessing Vertex’s new breakthrough therapy, Trikafta. Trikafta, Vertex’s most recent FDA-approved medication for the…

A new variation of the gene-editing technology CRISPR-Cas9 can correct mutations in the CFTR gene — the genetic cause of cystic fibrosis (CF) — in stem cells from CF patients, a study shows. The new approach has the ability to correct mutations without the need to excise the affected region,…

When Laura Bonnell, founder and president of the Bonnell Foundation, was 12 years old, she decided to become a reporter. That dream led to a long career at WWJ, the CBS Radio affiliate in Detroit. One day while doing a United Way promotional piece at the University of Michigan…

Vertex Pharmaceuticals said the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak has not affected its supply chain or its 2020 business outlook. The company said it’s confident it can continue to supply all its approved medications to patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) around the world. COVID-19 — an acronym for COrona…

With the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) affecting thousands of people around the world, individuals with respiratory conditions such as cystic fibrosis (CF) need to take precautions, according to medical expert Richard K. Mathis, MD. Mathis is a board member of Claire’s Place Foundation, a nonprofit organization that…

Tiny particles, or nanoparticles, work better as transport and delivery vehicles for the RNA molecules central to some forms of gene therapy when plant-based relatives of cholesterol, called phytosterols, are included, scientists report. These findings are in the study, “Naturally-occurring cholesterol analogues in lipid nanoparticles…