Pharmacologic therapies for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, past and future.

ABSTRACT: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a severe, progressive fibrotic disease of the lung of unknown etiology that affects approximately 150,000 patients in the United States. It carries a median survival of two to three years, but clinical course can vary markedly from patient to patient. There has been no established treatment for IPF, but recent advances in coordinated clinical trials through groups such as IPFnet and academia-industry partnerships have allowed this relatively rare disease to be studied in much greater depth. Historically, the default therapy for IPF was a combination of prednisone, N-acetylcysteine, and azathioprine, but recent trials have shown that this regimen actually increases mortality. An enormous body of work in recent years, spanning the bench to the bedside,

SUBMITTER: Staitieh BS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4638420 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature