News

The first healthy volunteers have been dosed in a Phase 1 clinical study that’s evaluating MDI-2517, a small molecule candidate to treat scleroderma and interstitial lung disease (ILD), which occurs when the lungs become scarred. According to developers MDI Therapeutics, MDI-2517 is a potent blocker…

Problems with the heart’s left ventricle at a subclinical — not yet symptomatic and overt — level were evident in 1 in every 4 people with systemic sclerosis (SSc) taking part in an Australian study when a potentially more sensitive measure than left ventricle ejection fraction was used. Both…

More than half of people with systemic sclerosis (SSc) who hesitated to get vaccinated against COVID-19 were concerned they might have a flare-up, but very few vaccinated patients have reported their symptoms worsening, according to a 2021–2022 survey study. “Even though the peak of the pandemic has passed, COVID-19…

June is awareness month for scleroderma, and this year’s theme chosen by the National Scleroderma Foundation is “Every Journey Matters,” to recognize the unique ways in which each person in the community experiences the disease. To encourage people to stay engaged in the lead-up to World Scleroderma…

Anti-SSA self-reactive antibodies, a hallmark of Sjögren’s syndrome, are associated with a higher risk of organ involvement in people with scleroderma, including the lungs and skin, a study in Japan shows. The findings suggest “anti-SSA may be a valuable biomarker of organ involvement and skin severity in patients…

Local injection with botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A), such as Botox, may ease the severity of pain associated with Raynaud’s phenomenon in people with scleroderma, also known as systemic sclerosis, a meta-analysis study found. The study, “Efficacy and safety of botulinum toxin in treating scleroderma-associated raynaud’s phenomenon: a…

Anemia is found in almost 20% of people with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and is associated with an almost two times higher risk of death, a French study reports. Iron deficiency was the most common reason for anemia in SSc, with older patients and those with diffuse cutaneous SSc…

Researchers have developed a model for predicting which systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) — together known as SSc-ILD — will experience progressive lung function declines that are known to be associated with a poorer prognosis. The prediction algorithm accounts for nine clinical factors, including…

Having scleroderma increases the risk of developing diseases affecting blood vessels of the brain or heart, known as cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases, a review study found. Relative to controls, the risk of stroke — caused by poor blood flow to the brain — in scleroderma patients was 64% higher,…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug status to BLR-200, a medication that BLR Bio — a company stemming from the Helix 51 biomedical incubator at Rosalind Franklin University — is developing for scleroderma. According to Ronald Kaplan, PhD, the…