News

Systemic Sclerosis Patients Show Benefits in Study of a B-Cell Cancer Therapy

A small study by researchers in Greece showed that B-cell depletion through “off-label” use of an approved drug may help to treat skin fibrosis in people with systemic sclerosis (SSc), and identified specific molecules of likely importance to this process. The article, “B cell depletion therapy upregulates Dkk-1 skin expression in patients…

Phase 2 Study of Resunab to Treat Systemic Sclerosis Now Fully Enrolled, Corbus Reports

Corbus Pharmaceuticals recently announced that its Phase 2 clinical trial assessing the drug Resunab as a potential treatment for diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis is now fully enrolled. The study (NCT02465437) is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-control trial, taking place at nine sites across the U.S., to evaluate Resunab’s efficacy, tolerability, safety and pharmacokinetics…

Phase 3 Trial to Begin for Terguride in Diffuse Cutaneous Scleroderma

The German pharmaceutical company Medac, in August, will begin Phase 3 of a clinical trial to access the therapeutic potential of terguride, a disease-modifying drug for the treatment of diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis. Terguride is a serotonin receptor blocker, acting at two particular serotonin receptors called 5-HT2A and 5-HT2B. Medac is convinced…

Blocking ETB Prevents Skin Fibrosis Development in Mice

Japanese scientists have discovered that endothelin-1 (ET-1) signaling through its B-type receptor contributes to the development of skin fibrosis. The finding suggests that ETB can be selectively targeted in new attempts to develop better antifibrotic drugs based on endothelin blockage. Scientists have long suspected that ET-1 signaling contributes to the…