British scientists invent new treatment for disease suffered by Pope Francis

Telegraph

10-05-2025

British scientists have developed a world-first treatment for an incurable condition that contributed to the Pope's death.
Pope Francis was suffering from a chronic lung condition, called multiple bronchiectasis, which along with pneumonia left him hospital-bound for more than a month prior to his death.
The 88-year-old officially died of a stroke, coma, and irreversible cardiovascular collapse, but the Vatican's death certificate noted his chronic lung issues, high blood pressure and type II diabetes, as conditions contributing to his ill-health and passing.
However, a drug called brensocatib, manufactured by US firm Insmed, is set to become the first-ever treatment for bronchiectasis, just weeks after the pope was hospitalised with it as his health began to significantly deteriorate.
The inflammatory condition is caused by white blood cells that are meant to fight infection, instead attacking the lung and 'eating away' at it.
People with the condition often suffer from 'flare-ups' that cause coughing fits, pain and chest infection or pneumonia-like symptoms, that can become fatal.
The new drug, which is the culmination of 15 years of work by experts at the University of Dundee, works by switching off the enzymes that are damaging the lungs.
The research published in the New England Journal of Medicine has revealed patients taking the therapy experienced fewer symptoms, such as phlegm and coughing, as well as flare-ups.
The largest trial into the disease ever conducted found those receiving the drug had 20 per cent fewer flare-ups on average, while it also slowed down the progression of the disease by 50 per cent, and reduced symptoms.
When it was revealed that Pope Francis had been hospitalised with a 'complex lung infection', the complication was his pre-existing condition of bronchiectasis.
It is thought he developed the condition after having part of his lungs removed as a young man because of a severe infection such as pneumonia.
Prof James Chalmers, the lead researcher and a professor in respiratory medicine at the University of Dundee, said it was 'quite common for people who have bronchiectasis'.
'It 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,' he said.
'And so 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.'
'A major breakthrough'
Prof Chalmers said the results were a 'major breakthrough for this disease because at the moment there's no approved treatment', with patients typically given antibiotics to treat infections that they can become resistant to over time.
He said the condition goes undiagnosed in a lot of people, or misdiagnosed in others, with doctors often confusing it with asthma or other lung conditions.
The number of cases has soared by 40 per cent in recent years as diagnostic technology improves and around a third of people receiving a diagnosis had previously been told they had asthma or something else, according to a survey.
Bronchiectasis potentially affects hundreds of thousands of people across Europe, causing some 1,500 deaths each year in the UK.
Insmed is seeking regulatory approval for brensocatib in the US, followed by applications in Europe and Japan.
It is understood approval on the NHS will be sought next year.