imPACT – October 2023
Message from the Chair
Welcome to the October issue of imPACT, the official newsletter of the Pulmonary Fibrosis Australasian Clinical Trials (PACT) network. It has been about a month since the European Respiratory Society’s (ERS) International Congress was held in Milan. There were numerous results of clinical trials of novel therapies for interstitial lung disease delivered, and it was especially pleasing that so many of the trials had been carried out in Australasia. These included early studies on the use of a nebulised form of pirfenidone, and therapies focused on a range of new targets being developed by companies including Bristol Myer Squibb, Accendatech, and Lassen. A number of these approaches are now progressing to late phase studies, and will be listed on the PACT clinical trials website to facilitate recruitment.
As you may know, September was Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month. Most forms of Pulmonary Fibrosis (PF) are rare diseases and people with them can feel isolated in the health system and poorly understood by the general community. Highlighting the patient perspective is therefore important, and we are very grateful to Trevor Allan for providing us with his experiences with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) in the “5 Minutes with” segment in this edition of imPACT.
Best wishes,
Associate Professor Ian Glaspole
PACT Chair
Message from the CRE-PF
It’s hard to believe that we are approaching the end of 2023! However, our ambitious PF research program is only just getting started, with great progress continuing across all our platforms and projects. Our ability to work productively across our differing geographic locations continues to be fundamental to our success as a group, and I am incredibly grateful for the support and dedication of our CRE-PF team. Having recently attended the European Respiratory Society Annual Congress in Milan, this provided the opportunity to meet with our colleagues in the international PF research community to enhance and strengthen our international collaborations within the CRE-PF Program.
In imPACT, we have been highlighting the activities and amazing talent of the newest members of our CRE-PF investigator team. In this edition, we would like to introduce Professor Phil Hansbro. Professor Hansbro is the Director of the Centre for Inflammation, Centenary Institute and University of Technology Sydney, Deputy Director of Centenary and a Conjoint Professor in Immune Health, Hunter Medical Research Institute and University of Newcastle, Australia. He has established internationally renowned research programs in IPF, as well as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), asthma, lung cancer, and infections (influenza, COVID-19, pneumonia). Professor Hansbro collaborates widely, as illustrated by his many complimentary collaborative clinical and multi-disciplinary studies.
One of the main objectives of the CRE-PF is to improve disease management, moderate symptoms and improve quality of life. To help achieve this, Professor Hansbro and his team will drive the discovery and translational projects for the CRE, identifying IPF mechanisms and biomarkers, defining the effects of genetic mutations as well as develop and test new therapies.
The team will:
- Create mouse models of human IPF mutations and define roles in pathogenesis and develop and test individualised treatments.
- Define new mechanisms, biomarkers and therapeutic targets, as well as develop and test new therapies in animal models and human disease.
- Use multi-omics enthuse systems to further understand disease processes and identify controller molecules as new therapeutic targets that more holistically control disease.
We look forward to sharing the progress and outcomes of this important research!
These are exciting times for pulmonary fibrosis research and the CRE-PF is at the forefront of many innovative and cutting-edge research projects. I look forward to sharing our research developments with you all.
Yours sincerely,
Prof Tamera Corte (CIA for CRE-PF)
Trial Update
Just a reminder to everyone, that here are many early and late phase interventional studies currently in the pipeline as well as large pharmaceutically sponsored interventional studies focused on IPF. We will update our website as soon as study information comes to hand. Sponsors and researchers wishing to list their studies on the website can contact the pact coordinator via pactcoordinator@cre-pf.org.au or submit an online form here. Below is an update of the newest clinical trials to be listed on our website.
The latest clinical trial to be featured on the PACT website is Lassen Therapeutics 1 LASN01. LASN01 is a new drug that has been developed as a potential new treatment for IPF and PF-ILD. This study is testing the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, immunogenicity and pharmacodynamics of single and multiple doses of LASN01. This study is running at two sites, in Melbourne and Brisbane and is currently recruiting. For further information about this study, please visit our website.
Grants
The 2023 PACT Grant-in-Aid applications are now closed. Applications are now being reviewed and the winner will be announced in early November. Keep an eye on our website for the result!
Other current grant opportunities relevant to pulmonary fibrosis clinical research and trials include:
- MRFF 2023 International Clinical Trial Collaborations Grants – support projects that promote Australian involvement in international collaborative investigator-initiated clinical trials research through the establishment and co-ordination of clinical trial site/s in Australia; and provide high-quality evidence of the effectiveness of novel health treatments, drugs or devices in ‘usual care’ settings, which will support a decision on whether to deliver the intervention in an Australian setting. Applications close Wednesday 7 February 2024.
- MRFF 2023 Clinical Trials Activity – anticipated opening Quarter 3 2023.
Upcoming Events of Interest
Virtual PF Research Meetings
The CRE-PF CREATE Australasian Pulmonary Fibrosis Virtual Research Meetings will continue on the 20 October and will feature Dr Mariana Hoffman Barbosa from Monash University. The meeting on Friday 17 of November will feature Dr Alexandra Brown from the University of Newcastle. Please contact Kate Christian via create@cre-pf.org.au to find out more about the program as well as how to join.
PFF Summit 2023
Will be held 9-11 November in Orlando, USA. Find out more here.
Asia-Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR) Congress
Will be held 16-19 November in Singapore. Find out more here.
TSANZSRS 2024
The Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand’s Annual Scientific Meeting will take place 22-26 March 2024 in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The call for abstracts is now open. Further information and abstract submission can be found here.
Health Professional webinars
The PACT-TSANZ webinar series from 2021-2022 are available to watch on demand here. Learn from experts about a range of topics, including accelerating translational research to cure pulmonary fibrosis and pragmatic trials and registry/EMR-based studies.
Consumer webinars
Lung Foundation Australia and the CRE-PF partner to deliver a series of consumer webinars on pulmonary fibrosis each year. They are available to watch on demand here. Topics include an overview of the latest in Australian pulmonary fibrosis research and panel discussion of lived experience of pulmonary fibrosis.
