Magdalena Kegel,  —

A data safety monitoring board (DSMB) has recommended that Inventiva continue its Phase 2b clinical trial assessing lanifibranor (previously known as IVA337) for the treatment of diffuse cutaneous scleroderma, after reviewing data gathered in the study to date. The trial, which is now fully enrolled with 145 patients, compares lanifibranor to a…

Organ fibrosis in scleroderma patients might be reversed with treatments that allow fibrotic cells to self-destruct, Harvard scientists suggest. Their study, “Targeted apoptosis of myofibroblasts with the BH3 mimetic ABT-263 reverses established fibrosis,” appeared in the journal Science Translational Medicine. It demonstrated that the survival–self-destruction balance of fibrosis-producing myofibroblast cells…

Over the past year, Scleroderma News has brought you news on scleroderma therapeutic developments, clinical trials, research, and events. While we look forward to bringing you more news in 2018, we would like to sum up 2017 by bringing you the Top 10 most-read scleroderma stories, reminding you, our readers,…

Corbus Pharmaceuticals is planning a global Phase 3 trial to assess anabasum (JBT-101) as a treatment for scleroderma. If successful, the company plans to apply to regulatory authorities, asking that anabasum be the first specifically approved treatment for scleroderma. The study, which Corbus calls RESOLVE-1, will enroll 354 patients and largely…

University of Colorado researchers have discovered a molecule that prevents the activation of a receptor that scientists believe is involved in autoimmune diseases. The team at university’s BioFrontiers Institute used the compound to block the receptor’s action. Their work may alter the path of therapy development in scleroderma and other…

Scleroderma patients’ nerve-related hand problems, including numbness, tingling and pain, may stem from the main nerve to the hands becoming stiffer than normal, according to Turkish researchers. The team discovered that the nerve was stiffer than usual at both the wrist and forearm. This prompted them to suggest that scientists…

Corbus Pharmaceuticals is sharing a host of data on anabasum (JBT-101) for the treatment of diffuse cutaneous scleroderma at the ongoing American College of Rheumatology (“ACR”) 2017 Annual Meeting in San Diego. Researchers presented data from an earlier Phase 2 trial of the cannabinoid-derived drug, along with a study proving…

Specific autoantibodies may give rise to clear differences in disease features among Spanish patients with scleroderma, according to a report in the journal Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology. These differences are similar to those reported in other populations, and suggest that analyses of specific autoantibodies may provide physicians with additional…

Corbus Pharmaceuticals says a Phase 3 clinical trial of anabasum for diffuse cutaneous scleroderma will start in the fourth quarter of 2017, putting the treatment a step closer toward regulatory approval after a Phase 2 trial that improved patients’ disease. According to the company’s second-quarter financial report,…

Cytori Therapeutics’ Habeo Cell Therapy may be effective only in scleroderma patients who have the more severe diffuse version of the disease, a Phase 3 clinical trial indicates. The trial failed to meet its main goal of improving all scleroderma patients’ hand function. Subgroup analyses indicated that those with…