N: Are there clinical trials in pulmonary fibrosis?

Clinical trials play a vital role in pulmonary fibrosis care, offering access to new treatments while patients continue their regular therapy. Participating in trials provides closer monitoring and support, and even patients on a placebo often benefit from the extra medical oversight. Trials help advance research and may improve outcomes for those living with pulmonary fibrosis.

 

🎥 Watch the Video: Are there clinical trials in pulmonary fibrosis?

 

Professor Porter discusses the following:

• Are there clinical trials in pulmonary fibrosis, PFF and IPF?
• Where can I take part in a clinical trial in pulmonary fibrosis?
• Can I participate in a pulmonary fibrosis clinical trial if I am already on treatment?
• What are the benefits of taking part in a pulmonary fibrosis clinical trial?
• What are the chances of receiving a placebo in a clinical trial?
• Do pulmonary fibrosis patients do better when they take part in a clinical trial?
• Further reading: Clinical Trials at UCL/UCLH

 

Full Video Transcript

This is a question very close to my heart as we do a lot of clinical trials because, it has to be said, although we have treatments at the moment for all the different types of pulmonary fibrosis, I would say that the treatments have limitations. They may not cure the disease, they just slow it down, and they often come with side effects that many patients find very, very difficult.

I would say that, throughout the country, most hospitals will be able to refer you to take part in a clinical trial if you want to in pulmonary fibrosis. And usually these trials allow patients to take part who are already on treatment, so you don’t have to stop your regular treatment for your fibrosis to take part – it’s an add-on treatment. Many patients enjoy taking part in clinical trials because you get seen more frequently. Often, the hospital will arrange transport, which is funded by the company that’s trying to develop the drug – so you’ll be ferried to and from the hospital for more frequent treatments. And, even if you draw the dummy drug, which I’ll explain in a moment, it’s still showing that patients in clinical trials actually do better than patients that don’t take part in clinical trials.  When you do take part in a clinical trial, you’re offered either the real drug or the dummy drug, which is a placebo, which looks exactly like the real drug and is taken in the same way. Neither you nor your physician know whether you have the real drug or the dummy drug, and the idea of that is so that we can really see if the drug makes a difference, or whether it’s just a so-called ‘placebo effect’. In most cases, your chance of getting the dummy drug is less than 50%. So, for example, for every two or three patients given the proper drug, one will be given the dummy drug.

But as I say, even if you give the dummy drug and you take part in a clinical trial, you do seem to do better – probably because you’re watched over so closely by the medical team.

 

 

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[Video published December 2025]