News

An expert surgical team conducted the first lung reduction surgery in India. The recipient of the new, size-reduced lung was a 30-year-old woman named Mrs. Anita Devi, who suffers from scleroderma. The surgery was conducted to treat Mrs. Devi’s scleroderma-related pulmonary fibrosis, but the technique can be applied to a…

A review study recently published in the journal Arthritis Research & Therapy suggests that borderline pulmonary pressure in patients with scleroderma can represent a condition of pre-pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The study was conducted by researchers at the Medical University of Graz and the Ludwig…

Bob Saget will once again host the 34th Cool Comedy – Hot Cuisine gala to benefit the Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF). It will be held on Friday, June 5 at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire. Saget, who lost his sister to scleroderma and currently serves as an SRF Board Member, will appear along with friends and…

Researchers at the University of Padova and Spedali Civili di Brescia in Italy conducted a review focused on the role of autoantibodies in myositis and the different clinical phenotypes associated with them. The study was published in the journal Autoimmunity Highlights and is entitled “…

A new study recently published in the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases revealed that the drug sildenafil can help on the healing of digital ulcers in patients with systemic sclerosis. The study is entitled “Efficacy of sildenafil on ischaemic digital ulcer healing in…

Researchers at Oslo University Hospital – Rikshospitalet and the University of Oslo in Norway recently published in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatology the finding that high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) imaging can be used as a predictor of lung function in patients with systemic sclerosis. The…

Patients with Systemic Sclerosis (SS), also known as scleroderma, have the highest risk of developing pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), according to PH expert Harrison Farber, MD who recently presented his findings at the American College of Rheumatology State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium. Farber presented data showing that 60% of patients with PAH are…

Fibrocell Science, Inc., an autologous gene and cell therapy firm developing first-in-class treatments to address scleroderma and connective tissue-related diseases, recently announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has awarded a rare pediatric disease designation for FCX-007. This is the Fibrocell’s main orphan gene-therapy drug candidate to treat recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa…

The Strategic Pharma-Academic Research Consortium for Translational Medicine has announced it is providing new grants that will support research into autoimmune diseases worth $1.9 million in total. The consortium is led by the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute and is offering financial support for research projects involving scleroderma, dermatomyositis, lupus, multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease. Other…

New York based iBio, Inc. a biotech firm specializing in plant-based biotechnology for developing and manufacturing biological products and offering pharmaceutical product applications using its iBioLaunch platform, recently announced a new patent to aid in their development of a novel IPF therapy. The iBioLaunch gene expression platform is a…