British scientists have found the first-ever treatment for bronchiectasis, the disease Pope Francis was hospitalized with in the weeks prior to his death, The Telegraph reported.
Francis suffered from a chronic lung condition, multiple bronchiectasis, and pneumonia, but the 88-year-old eventually passed from a stroke, coma, and irreversible cardiovascular collapse.
The Vatican’s death sentence also noted that Francis’s condition was likely worsened by his chronic lung issues, high blood pressure, and type II diabetes.
Now, only weeks after Francis’s passing, brensocatib is reportedly set to be the world’s first cure for bronchiectasis.
The drug is manufactured by the US firm Insmed and made possible after 15 years of research by scientists from the University of Dundee. The research is now available to read in the New England Journal of Medicine.
What is bronchiectasis and how will brensocatib meant to treat it?
Bronchiectasis is an inflammatory condition caused by white blood cells attacking the lungs.
When the condition is in a more active state, those with the condition can suffer from coughing fits, pain, pneumonia-like symptoms, and chest infections.
The causes of bronchiectasis can be cystic fibrosis, frequent infections, and weakened immunity, according to Israel’s BK Medical Logistic company.
The medication is said to work by turning off the enzymes, preventing them from attacking the lungs.
While the medication is not a cure for the condition, it was found to significantly slow the degenerative condition by as much as 50%, and one in five people who took it expressed they experienced fewer flare-ups.
Prof. James Chalmers, the lead researcher and a professor in respiratory medicine at the University of Dundee, said, according to The Telegraph, the condition “often starts in childhood. You get a bad chest infection in childhood, or something severe, like whooping cough. It damages an area of the lung, and now you have bronchiectasis for the rest of your life.”
“And so [what happened with] the pope, according to what was announced by the Gemelli Hospital, was that pneumonia was associated with bronchiectasis, and that’s what happens with people when they get bronchiectasis. They get these flare-ups, which are like pneumonia. They get infections with bugs,” he said.
“So what happened to the pope is, unfortunately, quite typical of the sort of natural history of this disease.”