Target evolution in lung fibrosis: what’s out and what’s up next?

BioCentury’s BCIQ database now includes discontinued products, opening a window into lessons from past failures and shelved compounds that may still hold promise. Pulmonary fibrosis offers a telling case study: a difficult disease area marked by numerous abandoned programs, but one where a new wave of candidates against emerging targets is now advancing into Phase II and III studies, promising a suite of insights into mechanisms that could further slow, or even halt, disease progression.

Pulmonary fibrosis drug development has unfolded in waves, from early efforts to blunt broad pro-fibrotic signaling pathways to newer attempts to intervene more selectively in the mechanisms that drive disease progression. The discontinued products now visible in BCIQ help map that evolution, showing which targets fell away, which have persisted despite setbacks, and which newer mechanisms are now being tested in mid- and late-stage trials...