Disclosed are methods of treating fibrosis in a patient in need thereof that includes administering to the patient an amount of an active agent, as identified herein, that is therapeutically effective to inhibit myofibroblast formation and thereby treat the fibrosis. Also disclosed is a recombinant cell line that includes a recombinant gene that expresses a detectable expression product in a dose-dependent response to TGFβ, as well as methods of identifying a compound that inhibits TGFβ-mediated expression of the detectable expression product.