News

Treatment for one year with the immunosuppressant Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide) improves lung function in scleroderma patients with interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) — but these benefits wear off after stopping treatment, data from Phase 3 trials show. The study, “Cyclophosphamide for Systemic Sclerosis-related Interstitial Lung Disease: A Comparison of…

Immunosuppressive treatment of early-stage interstitial lung disease (ILD) in people with systemic sclerosis may be a potential therapeutic option to prevent ILD progression, a study suggests.  The study, “Association between immunosuppressive therapy and course of mild interstitial lung disease…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted breakthrough therapy designation to Ofev (nintedanib) as a potential therapy for progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease (ILD) — which also affects systemic sclerosis patients — the treatment’s developer, Boehringer Ingelheim, has announced. Breakthrough therapy designation is given to investigational compounds that have…

Referral to specialized centers, focusing on skin lesions as well as joint and neurological manifestations, and treatment with corticosteroids and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), are among new expert recommendations for juvenile localized scleroderma. The study supporting those recommendations, “Consensus-based recommendations for the management of juvenile localized…

The first person has been enrolled in a clinical trial evaluating the investigational therapy bermekimab in adults with scleroderma, XBiotech, the developer of bermekimab, announced. Although the cause of scleroderma is unknown, the disease is thought to be at least partly driven by abnormally high levels of an inflammatory…

Blocking the activity of estrogen may worsen skin fibrosis in people with scleroderma, according to a study in mice. Researchers from the Paris Descartes University, in France, believe that a lack of estrogen’s beneficial effects may help explain why scleroderma more commonly affects women after menopause — when…

Raynaud’s Association is launching several activities during October to raise awareness about Raynaud’s phenomenon, and help those affected by the condition. Either in its primary form, or linked to other illnesses such as scleroderma, Raynaud’s is characterized by discoloration of the fingers and toes, with reduced sensitivity…

A modified version of the inflammatory protein TRAIL might be able to reverse fibrosis in scleroderma and related conditions, a study suggests. The study, titled “Targeting of dermal myofibroblasts through death receptor 5 arrests fibrosis in mouse models of scleroderma,” was published in the journal Nature…

Next month’s annual conference of the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) in Washington, D.C., couldn’t come at a better time, says Marshall Summar, MD, chairman of NORD’s board of directors. “The pace of discovery in rare diseases has gone from brisk to hypersonic,” Summar told Bionews Services, publisher…

Processa Pharmaceuticals  announced it has entered into a global licensing agreement with Akashi Therapeutics to possibly develop and market HT-100, Akashi’s candidate to treat diseases associated with tissue fibrosis (scarring) and inflammation, including scleroderma. HT-100 is an experimental, oral small molecule reported to have strong anti-inflammatory…