The Right Team, Treatment for Pulmonary Fibrosis

As established by the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF) National Awareness Survey, there is a major lack of understanding how the rare pulmonary condition inflicts and affects at-risk patients.

As great an issue is raising awareness about the signs and symptoms of the disease, so is understanding the care team and what therapies are available at what stages of infliction.

In the second part of an interview with HCPLive®, Greg Cosgrove, MD, chief medical officer of the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF), detailed the role of diagnosing primary care physicians, and to who they’re generally referring patients.

Cosgrove also discussed some of the currently marketed and promising pharmacologic agents designated for pulmonary fibrosis. Among the most-discussed options are the marketed competitors nintedanib and pirfenidone—which have been identified for fibrotic diseases as well as scleroderma.

Unfortunately, the disease and its current drugs are not of a one-size-fits-all variety.

“I would argue that of the trials ongoing right now, there are additional agents available to look at the different forms of pulmonary fibrosis, to see if the other pathways are important,” Cosgrove said. “And I think that’s a really optimistic perspective, from my standpoint.”