News

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently granted two $450,000 Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants to Cureveda LLC, who is currently developing new therapies for the treatment of  inflammatory and fibrotic diseases, such as scleroderma. The company will invest the grants in its ongoing preclinical studies that are going to…

Fibrosis and metabolism: the two were recently linked in a study presented at the 2014 American College of Rheumatology Meeting in November. “Adiponectin Is an Endogenous Anti-Fibrotic and Target in Systemic Sclerosis: Novel Link Between Fibrosis and Metabolism,” presented by Dr. Feng Fang from Northwestern…

iBio, Inc. has released the latest information on the development of IBIO-CFB03, a therapy designed to address significant unmet medical needs for the treatment of fibrotic diseases, including systemic sclerosis (SSc) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The company, which creates plant-derived pharmaceutical products, presented the news to their shareholders and other attendees at…

Cytori Therapeutics, Inc., a company developing autologous ADRCs-based cell therapies for the treatment of several conditions, including scleroderma, has been granted conditional approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) for their investigational scleroderma therapy. The pivotal trial, dubbed “STAR,” aims to evaluate the potential of Cytori Cell Therapy,…

Biopharmaceutical company Apricus Biosciences, Inc. announced it has successfully enrolled the first patient for a Phase 2a clinical trial for RayVa™, the company’s frontline candidate for scleroderma-related Raynaud’s phenomenon. Scleroderma, classified among autoimmune rheumatic diseases, causes hardening or spontaneous scarring of the skin, internal organs,…

The American College of Rheumatology (ACR), together with the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) published new criteria for classification of systemic sclerosis. The new guidelines were introduced to allow earlier diagnosis and facilitate more targeted therapeutic treatments. The criteria were published in the journal of Arthritis & Rheumatism in…

New Scleroderma-related findings have linked two variations of the disease, which in turn could lead to effective, new biomarkers and targeted treatments for patients. Two clinically different diseases, localized scleroderma (LS) and systemic sclerosis (SSc), can be characterized by similar T-cell produced cytokines and chemokines in pediatric patients,…

A group from Massachusetts General Hospital is placing possible blame for systemic sclerosis (SSc) pathogenesis on autotaxin (ATX), an enzyme involved in the production of the lipid signaling molecule lysophophatidic acid (LPA). Dr. Falvia V. Castelino, a researcher in the Rheumatology Department, presented the group’s work, “…

Federal University of São Paulo recently initiated a phase 3 clinical trial evaluating the use of probiotics in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) to determine the efficacy and safety of treating gastrointestinal symptoms of SSc. As an autoimmune disease, SSc may benefit from probiotics due to their ability to…

The Chief Executive Officer of emerging growth drug development company Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc. has been invited to present at the Virtual Investor Conferences, a live and interactive online event that will take place on Thursday, December 4 at 11:30 a.m. EST. Yuval Cohen, Ph.D., CEO of Corbus,…