News

Researchers found that impaired right atrium (RA) function in patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) carries a worse prognosis, or expected outcome. The right atrium is the upper chamber of the heart that pumps blood from the veins into the right ventricle (RV). The study, “Right atrial function…

More than 2,000 letters urge Canadian health authorities to make all pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) therapies available through public funding so that new life-extending medications are accessible to all who need them. The letters were signed by PAH patients, their caregivers, family members, and friends and will be delivered to…

Pfizer’s Phase 4 clinical trial (NCT00323297) in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) shows no clinical benefits of adding Revatio (sildenafil) to a stable Tracleer (bosentan) regimen. The study, “Sildenafil dosed concomitantly with bosentan for adult pulmonary arterial hypertension in a randomized controlled trial,” appeared in the…

Carvedilol, a common heart disease medication marketed by GlaxoSmithKline as Coreg, can help treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) with right ventricular heart failure, research shows. A study, “Pulmonary arterial hypertension treatment with carvedilol for heart failure: a randomized controlled trial,” published in the journal JCI Insights, concluded that carvedilol…

Celgene has given Acceleron Pharma the global rights to develop and commercialize sotatercept as a  treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and other lung diseases. Acceleron obtained the rights under a revision of the collaboration agreement that the companies signed in February 2008. The terms of the original agreement will apply…

Diethylcarbamazine, a compound used to fight a tropical parasitic disease, might effectively treat pulmonary hypertension (PH), a Brazilian research team concluded after observing the drug’s effect on mice. Their study, “Diethylcarbamazine: A potential treatment drug for pulmonary hypertension?” appeared in the journal Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. It found that diethylcarbamazine affected disease processes…

The female sex hormone estrogen may prevent disease progression of pulmonary hypertension — at least if results in rats can be translated to human patients. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) showed that estrogen reversed progression from pulmonary hypertension (PH) to right heart failure, and restored lung…

Bayer’s Adempas (riociguat) can improve the lung and heart functioning of pulmonary hypertension patients who fail to respond to phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors (PDE5i), a Phase 3 clinical trial suggests. The RESPITE trial also showed that Adempas can improve biomarkers of pulmonary arterial hypertension, or PAH. Researchers published the study in the European…

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare complication of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and is associated with the presence of specific autoantibodies, a study has found. PAH is a complex disease characterized by the constriction of pulmonary arteries. PAH can be associated with connective tissue diseases (CTDs) such as SLE. The…

Doctors who are intensive care respiratory specialists help seriously ill heart patients with breathing difficulties achieve better outcomes, a University of Maryland School of Medicine study reports. Researchers said the new model of having these specialists work with cardiac specialists also lowers patients’ costs. One reason the model works is that…

Uptravi (selexipag) slows the progression of connective tissue disease associated with pulmonary arterial hypertension, regardless of the type of connective tissue disease, according to a Phase 3 clinical trial in Germany. The therapy also increases the time it takes for the disease, known as CTD-PAH, to worsen and for patients who…

Information from a pulmonary hypertension registry at Germany’s University Hospital Giessen indicates that patient survival rates vary with the cause of their disease. Researchers published the results in The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation. The study was titled “The Giessen Pulmonary Hypertension Registry: Survival in pulmonary hypertension subgroups.” A…