THERAMetrics holding AG recently announced that it has been granted a patent for a pharmaceutical kit that includes targeted treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). The patent was granted by the European Patent Office for the treatment through inhalation of Interferon gamma after the molecular characterization of the disease.
IPF is a disease in which the lungs are continuously scarred over time, leading to a wide range of symptoms including cough, shortness of breath and overall difficulty in participating in everyday physical activities, which gets worse along with the progression of the disease.
The issued patent protects a personalized medicine technique to address IPF through inhalation of an Interferon gamma based therapy, which is an already approved treatment for other diseases through subcutaneous injection, such as Multiple Sclerosis.
The research project that led to the development of this newly-patented technology used THERAMetrics’ DRR2.0, which is a versatile intelligence system for Drug Repurposing and Repositioning, Target Identification, Lead Optimization, Safety Evaluation, or Medical writing of Patent applications, and Orphan Drug applications.
THERAMetrics has also been granted Orphan Drug Designations to use Interferon gamma in IPF, which was awarded by the European Union and by the United States Food and Drug Administration.
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Tobacco cessation offers a proven survival benefit for lung cancer patients who quit smoking shortly before or after diagnosis, no matter how severe the disease is. The results from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute assessment revealing this new insight were recently published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology and is entitled “Tobacco Cessation Improves Lung Cancer Patient Survival.”
Roswell Park features a leading Tobacco Assessment and Cessation Service (TACS) that offers a standardized tobacco use assessment for patients with lung cancer treated in the Thoracic Center and refers patients that smoke to a tobacco cessation counseling program. 250 patients enrolled the study. Those who had stopped smoking (50 patients), or those who quit after contacting TACS (71 patients) had lower mortality rates in comparison to those who continued smoking. Patients who stopped smoking had a median survival of 28 months in comparison to the 18 months for patients that still used tobacco. The survival advantages took into account disease stage, demographics and further health characteristics.