Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a debilitating and life-threatening condition characterised by progressive and irreversible fibrosis of the lung parenchyma. Up to 80% of patients with IPF experience, among other symptoms, a chronic dry cough that can be as troublesome as their breathlessness. Cough remains one of the most difficult-to-treat comorbidities of IPF because it is often refractory to disease-modifying therapies and antitussives. Consequently, there are currently no approved drugs for the treatment of cough in IPF, a problem compounded by the small number of appropriately controlled and well designed IPF studies with cough as an endpoint.

中文翻译：

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老药新招：减轻IPF咳嗽

特发性肺纤维化（IPF）是一种使人衰弱且危及生命的疾病，其特征是肺实质进行性且不可逆的纤维化。高达 80% 的 IPF 患者会出现慢性干咳等症状，这种症状与呼吸困难一样令人烦恼。咳嗽仍然是 IPF 最难治疗的合并症之一，因为它通常对疾病缓解疗法和镇咳药无效。因此，目前还没有批准用于治疗 IPF 咳嗽的药物，而以咳嗽为终点的 IPF 研究数量较少，且经过适当控制且设计良好，这使得问题变得更加复杂。