Clinical trials in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: a framework for moving forward.

In the current issue of the European Respiratory Journal, RAGHU et al. [1] report the results of the Macitentan USe in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Clinical (MUSIC) trial, a randomised placebo-controlled phase 2 clinical trial of macitentan, an oral endothelin antagonist, for biopsy-proven idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). With its multicentre enrolment, appropriate allocation concealment, low withdrawal rate and intention-to-treat analysis, this clinical trial exemplifies the state-of-the-art in clinical trial design and conduct in the field of IPF. The authors should indeed be congratulated for accomplishing the difficult task of enrolling and successfully completing a clinical trial in IPF.