Biomarker Discovery for Novel Drug Development in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Drug discovery can take many years especially since most studies to measure effectiveness depend on clinical outcomes like pulmonary function tests and hospitalizations. This is an observational study designed to collect information, blood, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in people who have IPF and those who do not. The people who have IPF will be followed for 12 months to collect more biological samples and record clinically relevant information. The goal of this study is to identify new molecular markers that are measurable and reliable in people who have IPF. It is hoped that these markers can be used in future drug studies to significantly speed up the process of finding drugs that help.