The period covered by this update can be considered as the most exciting period 
in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) research. It started with the 
identification of genetic variants that are associated with IPF in the majority 
of patients and continued with discovery of molecular and genetic biomarkers 
that predict distinct clinical presentations of patients with IPF and potential 
new biological mechanisms. More importantly, the period ends with the 
publication of two groundbreaking studies that confirmed that two drugs, 
pirfenidone and nintedanib, slowed disease progression, leading to a historic 
approval by the FDA. In this update, we describe these key advances, their 
scientific and significant clinical implications, and future directions.