Maureen Newman,  —

Representatives from Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd will be presenting data from its Phase III GRIPHON and SERAPHIN studies at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) Conference 2015, held in Denver, Colorado. GRIPHON focused on the investigational drug selexipag (Uptravi®), while SERAPHIN focused on macitentan (Opsumit®). Both were used for patients with pulmonary…

Long-term results for the GRIPHON trial are in. According to a presentation made at the 35th Annual International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) Meeting & Scientific Sessions, selexipag (otherwise known as Uptravi® from Actelion) effectively treats patients with pulmonary arterial…

A lot can change in five years, especially when someone has chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). A group of doctors at the University of Würzburg and Katharinen-Hospital Unna in Germany followed a 68-year-old woman for five years, from the time of her visiting the clinic with shortness of…

Patients with pulmonary hypertension who require a lung transplant are expected to move to higher priority on the wait list for a life-saving organ. On February 19, the Lung Allocation System, which is a means of prioritizing patients in need of a lung transplant, was…

Tiny biomarkers for pulmonary hypertension in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) may be floating around affected individuals’ bloodstreams. Matthew R. Lammi, MD, of Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans is heading a clinical trial to evaluate the presence of endothelial microparticles (EMPs) in SSc patients with…

Adding to the list of medical conditions that may result in pulmonary hypertension is the rare artery disease known as Takayasu arteritis. According to the Mayo Clinic, patients with Takayasu arteritis — which is grouped into a larger category of diseases that includes other types of…

The right ventricle is extremely critical to the progression of pulmonary hypertension due to its position immediately before the pulmonary artery. It was previously shown the volume of the right ventricle can predict changes in clinically stable…

Although right heart catheterization is an invasive procedure, it can detect changes in right ventricular volume that predict clinical worsening of pulmonary arterial hypertension. A study from the Department of Pulmonary Diseases at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, “Signs of Right Ventricular Deterioration in…

Courtesy of EchoSense Two clinical trials from EchoSense Ltd. are directed toward using lung Doppler signals (LDS) to predict the risk for pulmonary hypertension in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). The trials will evaluate the feasibility of identifying pulmonary vessels characteristics using LDS and EchoSense’s processing…

Bayer is sponsoring a long-term observational clinical trial involving patients with pulmonary hypertension or pulmonary arterial hypertension due to scleroderma. The aim of the study is to determine the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of inhaled Ventavis (iloprost, also known as BAYQ6256) in 160 patients with either idiopathic or familial…

Treating patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) who have borderline pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is vital to patient health, as life expectancy after a diagnosis of SSc-PAH is only one year. Accordingly, Heidelberg University, along with GlaxoSmithKline, initiated a clinical trial to investigate “Early Treatment…

Clinicians, scientists, and researchers have acknowledged an association between systemic sclerosis (SSc) and pulmonary arterial hypertension, and have even created the disease category “SSc-PAH,” or SSc-related PAH. This category of PAH is remarkably similar to heritable PAH, yet the basis for the similarity has remained unknown. In an effort…