Patents for the potential treatment of scleroderma

Abstract

Scleroderma is a rare (2 in 10,000 prevalence) autoimmune connective tissue disease that has fibrosis and vasculopathy as its hallmark, and affects women more than men. This article concentrates on the potential treatments for systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) and does not discuss non-systemic scleroderma treatment or diagnostic patents. Over the last decade, there have been several trials of treatment in scleroderma. Most investigation has been done for organ-specific complications such as pulmonary arterial hypertension and pulmonary fibrosis. There have also been attempts to modify the natural history of scleroderma by targeting molecules that directly affect the fibrotic or immune pathways. Patents in scleroderma are primarily for novel treatment, but some are for diagnostic tests. This article concentrates on the patents for potential treatment of scleroderma.

Keywords::

• connective tissue disease
• fibrosis
• inflammatory and autoimmune diseases
• scleroderma (systemic sclerosis)