As new medications for pulmonary hypertension are approved and marketed, it is important to evaluate their efficacy, both absolutely and relative to tried-and-true products. Macitentan, marketed under the name Opsumit by Actelion, is approved to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension patients under the World Health Organization classification of…
The Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) recently nominated Stephen L. White as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the organization, after years of his involvement in the PHA’s ongoing national effort to prevent and cure pulmonary hypertension (PH), according to a recent press release. He already serves as chair of…
Inhalation of a small molecule known as PK10453, formally known as (R-phenyl)pyrazin-R-methylnicotinamide, prevented pulmonary arterial hypertension progression in rats who were predisposed for developing pulmonary hypertension. Researchers under the leadership of Dr. Lawrence Zisman at Bassett Medical Center and other institutes in New York and Minnesota published their new…
As any scleroderma patient knows, the disease has no cure and no effective treatments exist. The main goal of current treatments is reducing inflammation which, often times, is not enough to provide relief to patients, especially those who have developed pulmonary hypertension as a result of thickened pulmonary arteries.
Scleroderma patients, who are sometimes affected by pulmonary hypertension, are becoming routinely treated with stem cell transplants. Dr. Dinesh Khanna, at the annual European Congress of Rheumatology, previewed the results of the Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation International Scerloderma…
The Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) has granted 13 awards to projects led by committed community activists for their work in raising awareness for pulmonary hypertension (PH).  Tom Lantos Innovation in Community Service Awards are granted by the association in order to create opportunities within the PH community as well…
Any newly-diagnosed pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patient could probably testify to the hardships of having the disease, and new research provides concrete evidence of a substantial burden. More than half of these patients are hospitalized within three years of their diagnosis. Lead author Charles Burger, MD, from the Mayo…
Forced vital capacity, or FVC, is defined as the amount of air that can be forcibly exhaled from the lungs after taking the deepest breath possible. Patients suffering from systemic sclerosis, or scleroderma (a chronic systemic autoimmune disease) often undergo this type of spirometry testing to assess their status of…
A team of over twenty researchers recently found that patients with systemic sclerosis are at high risk to develop pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The study, published in the Seminars in Arthritis & Rheumatism, set out to understand the natural history of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in systemic sclerosis (Ssc),…
Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a privately held company located in Irving, Texas aiming to translate innovative research into breakthrough medicines for difficult-to-treat diseases that have significant unmet needs. Their approach specifically involves developing a novel class of drugs with potent transcriptional activity, called antioxidant inflammation modulators (AIMs), which can…
Putting an end to one familial case of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) without a known cause, a recent study published in New England Journal of Medicine investigated the mutation responsible for one family’s idiopathic PAH. Lead authors Lijang Ma, MD, PhD, and Danilo Roman-Campos, PhD, principal investigator…
In contrast to the typical image of heart patients running on treadmills and being hooked up to diagnostic machines while a doctor monitors their heart rate and oxygen consumption, a group of idiopathic pulmonary arterial heart (IPAH) patients cycled in a research study while being evaluated for blood pressure,…
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