[HTML][HTML] The treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

HV Woodcock, TM Maher - F1000prime reports, 2014 - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
HV Woodcock, TM Maher
F1000prime reports, 2014ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and invariably fatal disease with a
median survival of less than three years from diagnosis. The last decade has seen an
exponential increase in clinical trial activity in IPF and this in turn has led to important
developments in the treatment of this terrible disease. Previous therapeutic approaches
based around regimens including corticosteroids and azathioprine have, when tested in
randomized clinical trials, been shown to be harmful in IPF. By contrast, compounds with anti …
Abstract
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and invariably fatal disease with a median survival of less than three years from diagnosis. The last decade has seen an exponential increase in clinical trial activity in IPF and this in turn has led to important developments in the treatment of this terrible disease. Previous therapeutic approaches based around regimens including corticosteroids and azathioprine have, when tested in randomized clinical trials, been shown to be harmful in IPF. By contrast, compounds with anti-fibrotic actions have been shown to be beneficial. Subsequently, the novel anti-fibrotic agent pirfenidone has, in many parts of the world, become the first treatment ever to be licensed for use in IPF. This exciting development, coupled with ongoing clinical trials of a range of other novel compounds, is bringing hope to patients and their clinicians and raises the prospect that, in the future, it may become possible to successfully arrest the development of progressive scarring in IPF.
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