News

Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company that discovers, develops, and commercializes medicines for a series of diseases, currently with a clinical development program focused on cystic fibrosis (CF), recently announced its key business priorities for 2016. Vertex currently has two medicines approved for cystic fibrosis treatment: KALYDECO (ivafactor) and ORKAMBI (lumacaftor/ivacaftor).

University of New Mexico researcher Graham Timmins has developed a diagnostic breath test, known as the urease test, that has the potential to rapidly confirm diseases like tuberculosis (TB) by detecting bacterial enzymes (ureases) in the lungs. The test was developed for TB, but Dr. Timmins plans to investigate its efficacy in other lung…

A recent study published in the journal Pediatrics showed that depression in parents of children with cystic fibrosis (CF) negatively impacts treatment adherence in children taking enzyme supplements. The findings point to the possibility of increasing adherence rates by identifying and treating parental depression. Studies showed that good…

Keiser University has raised $50,000 to support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation through the efforts of its staff and students across 17 campuses in Florida. This is the ninth year Keiser has taken part in a fundraising event for the foundation. The 2015 campaign adopted a “Terminator”-inspired movie theme for activities that raised money to further research and care into cystic fibrosis (CF),…

A new research study may help establish racial equity in cystic fibrosis (CF) newborn screening programs where identification of gene variants in non-white individuals remains suboptimal when compared to the white population. The research paper, “The Spectrum of CFTR Variants in Nonwhite Cystic Fibrosis Patients,” was published in…

A study found that cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, especially younger patients, may be at increased risk of acute cellular rejection of transplanted tissues compared to other transplant patients. The study, “Higher Risk of Acute Cellular Rejection in Lung Transplant Recipients with Cystic Fibrosis,” was recently published in the journal …

In a new study, researchers in the Netherlands demonstrated that children with cystic fibrosis (CF) have a higher risk of developing human rhinovirus infections, and that these last for longer periods of time than in children without the disease. The research article, titled “Frequency and Duration of Rhinovirus Infections in…

A team of specialists in the United Kingdom are investigating whether a novel hearing test could effectively detect early hearing loss in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), a possible side effect of antibiotics used to treat recurrent disease-related chest infections. CF is genetic disorder that mostly affects the lungs, and patients are…

A recent Dutch study found preoperative infection or inflammation to be associated with worse outcomes in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients undergoing lung transplantation surgery. This finding might help clinicians better estimate risk before such surgery. The study, titled “Pretransplant HRCT Characteristics Are Associated with Worse Outcome of Lung Transplantation for Cystic Fibrosis Patients,“…

A new study report for a first time an “epidemic spread” of Pandoraea pulmonicola, a bacterial species that belongs to the recently identified genus Pandoraea spp. and which is associated with cystic fibrosis (CF), among patients at a CF center in France. The article, published in BMC Infectious Diseases, is titled “Epidemic spread of Pandoraea pulmonicola in a cystic fibrosis…