News

Cumbersome security procedures, rising airfares, and shrinking legroom have made commercial air travel difficult enough these days — even for healthy passengers. Imagine how much harder it is for patients with rare diseases who must get to doctors’ appointments or clinical trials that are hundreds of miles away from home.

Corbus Pharmaceuticals is adjusting the primary efficacy outcome of the ongoing and global RESOLVE-1 Phase 3 trial of lenabasum as a possible treatment for diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (SSc). The change affects only U.S. sites involved in the study and was recommended by regulatory officials. The adjustment, a change…

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has cleared the use of the active ingredient in EHP-101, an investigational therapy for treating multiple sclerosis (MS) and systemic sclerosis (SSc), according to Emerald Health Pharmaceuticals, the therapy’s developer. After a detailed review, the regulatory agency has determined that the active pharmaceutical…

Rituximab, an immunosuppressant antibody, alleviates skin fibrosis in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and was also found to be generally safe, according to a study. The study, “Outcomes of patients with systemic sclerosis treated with rituximab in contemporary practice: a prospective cohort study,” was published in the…

Epigenetic changes — chemical modifications in DNA that affect gene expression (the process by which information within a gene gives rise to a functional product) — may be involved in the development of systemic scleroderma, a study says. The findings of the study, “Integrative analysis of DNA methylation…

While finding a cure for scleroderma is serious business, the Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF) mixes in comedy, show business, and good food at its celebrity-filled fundraiser, ‘Cool Comedy – Hot Cuisine.’ Held this year at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire on April 25, the event will be hosted by…

Men older than 50 with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc) have higher levels of estradiol, an active form of estrogen, in their blood compared to healthy males, a study suggests. High estradiol levels correlated with worse survival and cardiac complications. The results suggest that estradiol is a potential therapeutic…

A simple routine blood test that measures the levels of immune cells called monocytes may help identify patients with fibrotic diseases, including systemic sclerosis, who are at risk for poorer outcomes, according to a study. The study, “Increased monocyte count…

TLY012, a lab-made equivalent of a natural protein called TRAIL, can reverse skin fibrosis in mice with scleroderma by blocking important cells involved in the underlying mechanism of skin scarring, a research study found. Targeting TRAIL pathway and this novel engineered molecule may represent a promising anti-fibrotic strategy to arrest scleroderma in…

Increased levels of specific antibodies that can attack the host’s own tissues may be an early manifestation of systemic sclerosis (SSc) that can be detected years before clinical diagnosis. These autoantibodies may also help predict the onset of scleroderma renal crisis (SRC), a potentially life-threatening complication of the disease, a study suggests.