News

Tackling New Zealand Alps to Promote PH Awareness, Research

Team PHenomenal Hope will take part in a seven-day cycling competition to raise awareness of pulmonary hypertension (PH) and money to advance research into the disease. The nonprofit, presented by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), Bayer Healthcare, and Actelion, is competing in the The Pioneer race through New Zealand’s Southern Alps.

Sildenafil’s Use in Children with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Still Topic of Controversy

Sildenafil (Revatio) — a phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitor developed by Pfizer – is approved for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in adults. Two large international clinical trials, the STARTS I and II trials, subsequently investigated the safety of sildenafil use in children. Based on their findings, however, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the…

Top 10 Most Read Pulmonary Hypertension Articles of 2015

Pulmonary Hypertension News has covered news surrounding the latest treatments, events, clinical trials, and research updates related to pulmonary hypertension on a daily basis throughout the past year. As the year of 2015 comes to an end, our “Top 10 Most Read Pulmonary Hypertension Articles of 2015” ranks the…

Two Common PAH Treatment Approaches May Be Equally Valid

Researchers in Turkey evaluated the two drug therapy approaches commonly used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and found no substantial difference between the two in the patients observed. The study, titled “Combination Therapy in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Single Centre Long-term Experience“ appeared in May 2015 in the West…

Systemic Sclerosis and Lung Fibrosis Study of Nintedanib Enrolls First Patient

Boehringer Ingelheim recently announced the enrollment of the first patient in its global, double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled SENSCIS (Safety and Efficacy of Nintedanib in Systemic SClerosIS) Phase 3 clinical trial. The trial (NCT02597933) is now enrolling patients, and is evaluating the safety and the efficacy of nintedanib in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc)…

Pulmonary Hypertension Researchers Win 2015 Deutscher Zukunftspreis

German President Joachim Gauck has awarded the 2015 Deutscher Zukunftspreis, which honors innovation in science and technology, to a pulmonary hypertension (PH) research team that discovered and developed a drug effective in the treatment of two serious types of the disease. The winning team — led by Professor Ardeschir Ghofrani from the University Clinic…

Eiger BioPharmaceuticals’ PAH Therapy Bestatin™ (Ubenimex) Receives Notice of Allowance for U.S. Patent

Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. recently announced in a press release that a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been issued for the U.S. patent application 13/829,321, titled “Treatment of Pulmonary Hypertension with Leukotriene Inhibitors” covering Bestatin™ (ubenimex), a leukotriene A4hydrolase (LTA4H) inhibitor, for treating…

PHA’s Sacramento Santa Run Promises Another Fun Fundraiser

The Sacramento Santa Run, now in its third year, is holding a 5k Run/Walk and a Merry Mile event on Saturday, Dec. 19, to benefit the California Chapter of the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA). The full-day charity event opens at 7 a.m. with race registration and the run/walk itself, beginning at the State…

CTPER-index May Be a Potential CTEPH Diagnostic Tool

Researchers have developed a computer tomography pulmonary embolism residua index (CTPER-index) that may prove to be a useful tool for diagnosis and treatment decisions regarding chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension and dyspnea. The research paper, “Computed tomography pulmonary embolism residua index (CTPER-index): a simple tool for pulmonary embolism residua description,” was…

Intrapulmonary Vascular Dilatations Often Found in POPH Patients

In a new study, researchers observed that intrapulmonary vascular dilatations (IPVDs), essential features of hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS), were more commonly found than expected in a study evaluating patients with portopulmonary hypertension, leading to a recommendation that all such patients be screened for IPVD. The research paper, titled “Intrapulmonary vascular dilatations…

PH Study Finds Genetic ‘Junk’ May Play Key Role in Disease

A recent study suggests that RNA fragments called microRNAs (miRNAs), long thought of as genetic “junk,” actually control the production of endothelial cells, whose over-proliferation is responsible for the development of pulmonary hypertension (PH). The study, published in the Experimental Biology and Medicine journal, is titled “microRNA-125a in pulmonary…