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Broken Arrow 2023 recap: New cystic fibrosis treatments  creating new research questions and opportunities for discovery 

Attendees at the 2023 Broken Arrow Conference

MAY 31, 2023

Effective new treatments for cystic fibrosis (CF) are changing the conversation that researchers are having about the disease and creating new questions on which to focus scientific discovery.  

The evolving landscape for the disease was front and centre at Cystic Fibrosis Canada’s  Broken Arrow scientific conference last month. The event brought together CF researchers to explore how research can improve detection and treatment of the airway infections CF patients commonly experience, one of the Canadian CF community’s top health priorities. 

 
Trikafta, the treatment that has recently become available to most people with CF, has significantly increased lung function and, as a result, life expectancy. But it has also created new challenges – a significant one being the side effect of less sputum production. Normally we would think of that as a good thing.  But the collection of sputum is an important part of testing for bacteria and infections common in those living with the disease, so less sputum means healthier lungs but also that infection diagnosis is harder.  

“Sputum is still in the game – maybe we just need unconventional ways of collecting it,” said Dr. Gina Hong, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania during a session about the continued relevance of sputum collection.  

Cystic Fibrosis Canada's Director of Healthcare, Jana Kocourek and CEO, Kelly Grover, with Hilary Becker
Cystic Fibrosis Canada’s Director of Healthcare, Jana Kocourek and CEO, Kelly Grover, with Hilary Becker

Hilary Becker and Amanda Bartels, who both live with CF, shared their personal experience with the disease. Amanda noted the fact that she is not recognizing infections as easily since being on Trikafta. 

 

Amanda Bartels with Cystic Fibrosis Canada's Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Paul Eckford
Amanda Bartels with Cystic Fibrosis Canada’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Paul Eckford

A major theme of the conference was around the emerging technology of detecting molecules on the breath of CF patients to diagnose the type of bacterial infection in the lungs.  Dr. Jane Hill of the University of British Columbia, and other researchers discussed the promise and potential of this type of diagnostic to replace testing of sputum.  Read our blog on a recently funded researcher in Dr. Hill’s lab doing some of this important work.  

Other talks addressed the needs of the sizeable patient community that is not eligible for the treatment. Professor Jane Davies from the UK delivered the keynote about developing a personalized approach to pseudomonas infections, which affect about two out of three adults with CF. Dr. Davies even spoke about a project she has training scent detection dogs to sniff Pseudomonas infections and alert the researchers.  One day these dogs might be an important step in the early detection and treatment of CF lung infections.   

Dr. Fred Van Goor, VP and Head of CF Research at Vertex, which manufactures Trikafta, explained the company will continue to test roughly 600 CF mutations to determine if they respond to the treatment.  

Dr. Fred Van Goor, VP and Head of CF Research at Vertex
Dr. Fred Van Goor, VP and Head of CF Research at Vertex

Emerging methods of treating airway infections were also discussed. “Phage is all the rage,” commented Dr. Ben Chan when discussing the potential of bacteriophage therapy, which uses viruses to target and kill bacterial infections that don’t respond to antibiotics.  

Sponsors Vertex, Horizon Therapeutics and Viatris generously supported the 2023 Broken Arrow Conference, which had approximately 100 attendees from across Canada and around the world.  

On the last day of the conference, Cystic Fibrosis Canada hosted an interactive workshop focused on determining the most outstanding research questions whose answers have the potential to bring one or more new methods of infection detection to clinical practice or improve a method already in use. Building on the workshop and aligned with its new research roadmap that was presented at the event, Cystic Fibrosis Canada will soon be launching a $2 million team grant to be awarded next year following a peer-reviewed competition.  “This team grant will be more focused on bringing a near term impact to people with CF than any research program we have ever funded, and is a centre piece of our New Research Strategy that we are launching soon” said Paul Eckford, Chief Scientific Officer for Cystic Fibrosis Canada.  “We are very excited about the potential impact of this new research program”.