Pliant Therapeutics Inc., a startup developing small-molecule therapies against fibrotic diseases, has raised $62 million to carry a potential new therapy for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) through proof of concept next year, creating momentum toward a pivotal program to start in late 2019 or early 2020. Studies of its lead candidate, a dual-selective integrin inhibitor, are also in the works in primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).