No effective treatments for cystic fibrosis existed 50 years ago and little was known about the disease. Today, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation maintains a robust pipeline of therapies that target CF from every angle, including the root cause of the disease.
Nearly every CF drug available today was made possible because of the CF Foundation's support and its ongoing work with researchers.
The Foundation has raised and invested hundreds of millions of dollars to help discover and develop breakthrough CF therapies that have improved the quality of life and life expectancy for people with the disease.
To advance drug development and the search for a cure, the CF Foundation has contractual agreements with several companies to receive royalties
related to drugs that are developed as a result of Foundation funding. Any royalties we receive are used in support of our mission to find a cure for CF.
How to Use the Pipeline Tool
The
Drug Development Pipeline tool can be used to track the progress of drugs through the different phases of clinical research and, in some cases, approval by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Drugs that are in development include those aimed at treating
key symptoms of CF, such as lung infections and inflammation, as well as drugs that target the underlying cause of CF -- a defective CFTR protein caused by mutations in the CF gene.
The pipeline shows drugs that the Foundation has helped either financially or assisted through its
Therapeutics Development Network. At a glance, the colorful bar chart shows how far a drug has advanced through the phases of clinical research.
Here is how you can use it:
- Click on the title of each therapeutic approach or, “Learn more,” to learn more about the types of drugs included in that category.
- Click on the name of the drug to get a quick overview of what the drug does, its status and links to recent clinical trials. If the drug has a check next to it, it has been approved by the FDA and is available to people with CF.
- Search for types of drugs by clinical trial phase, recent updates, therapeutic approach and status. The “active” status box is always checked by default.
- If you click on the “discontinued” status box, you will see drugs that have been removed from the pipeline because the sponsor has decided not to pursue further development.
Check it out for yourself.