Written by Todd Georgieff, Chair, CPFF Board of Directors
Sharon Lee and I had the opportunity to attend the American Thoracic Society (ATS) meeting and the Respiratory Innovation Summit in San Diego in May. We went to meet colleagues from Canada and the United States who are working in Pulmonary Fibrosis, and to learn more about any new treatments in development.
My own professional background is in clinical trial management and I am a pharmacist by training. So, conferences and understanding the development process for new treatments is familiar territory for me. We had done our research and went to the conference knowing about several new drugs in clinical trials, but we came away excited to learn about even more programs than we anticipated.
Research into new treatments includes Canadian study sites
It’s been 10 years since the last new treatments for PF were approved, so it is encouraging to see so much activity. While I am very aware that there are no guarantees in evaluating the efficacy and safety of new drugs, and the rate of failure is still very high, the number of new treatments being investigated is encouraging.
More exciting still, several of the ongoing clinical trials include Canadian study sites. CPFF is exploring ways to bring more trials to more ILD centres, hospitals and clinics in Canada. It is a long process, but we believe that having more clinical research and experience and expertise in Canada will be good for our PF community and our health systems.
Qualifying for clinical trials
It’s always the case that someone’s ability to participate in a clinical trial depends on a lot of different factors: your ILD diagnosis, severity and history, other health conditions you may have, your willingness to attend visits and assessments and, perhaps most important, your location. Some trials only have two or three sites in Canada. If you don’t leave nearby, those trials will likely not be an option for you. Even with those qualifiers, the number of new treatments in development is encouraging.
A few clinical trial sites in Canada
Here are just a few examples that do have trial sites in Canada:
- A treatment previously used for pain administered by mouth (tablets) that appears to significantly reduce cough in patients with IPF. Watch this webinar > CORAL Clinical Trial Overview: Chronic Cough Reduction for Patients with IPF – Dr. Émilie Millaire.
- Trials of the anti-fibrotic drug pirfenidone administered by inhalation to see if it can be effective, while reducing side effects.
- A class of drugs that has been approved for use in certain types of skin cancers that may limit or even reverse fibrosis, though it is very early to tell.
- Other anti-fibrotic drugs that may delay progression of the disease and may improve some radiologic signs (from CT Scans) of fibrosis.
Yes, some of these experimental treatments seem to show early signs of reversing fibrosis, rather than just delaying its progression. It is too soon to know for sure, which is why more trials are needed, but the early data are promising signals that game-changing treatments may be coming.
Stay informed
Please continue to read CPFF’s newsletter and our social media for more information about clinical trials. We will be updating the general webinar on clinical trials that we recorded in September 2022, and we will keep bringing you information about studies that are recruiting patients in Canada. In addition, watch for improvements in our CPFF website that will help you find clinical trials that may be options for you.
While timelines are long and the road ahead for new treatments is uncertain, this is a promising time for our PF community.