News

A type of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a life support technique used to oxygenate the blood, was seen to significantly improve survival in end-stage pulmonary hypertension (PH) and interstitial lung disease (ILD) patients awaiting lung transplants, a retrospective study suggests. Researchers found that when performed in a venoarterial,…

For pulmonary hypertension patients, medications they are taking can influence the severity of their fatigue, a common but often unaddressed symptom of the disease, a study suggests. Findings were published in the study, “Multidimensional fatigue in pulmonary hypertension: prevalence, severity and predictors,” in the journal European…

Apelin, a peptide naturally produced in the body, reduces resistance in the pulmonary vascular system (blood vessels) and improves cardiac function in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), results from a clinical trial show. The therapy’s effects were even greater in patients also taking PAH medication, especially those on…

Clinical trials testing pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) therapies show that PAH patients who also have congenital heart disease (CHD) can also benefit from these therapies, improving exercise capacity, blood flow, and quality of life, a review study reports. The study, “Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Medical Management…

A cancer marker called NEDD9 is a critical mediator of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and could be a therapeutic target, according to new research. The study, “NEDD9 targets COL3A1 to promote endothelial fibrosis and pulmonary arterial hypertension,” was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine. Fibrosis…

Scleroderma patients diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) are at a high risk of PAH-related death, especially in the four years after the PAH diagnosis, a study shows. Also, being a man, having diffuse scleroderma, and worse scores on respiratory- and heart-related tests were associated with a higher risk of…

Five Canadian provinces, Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Newfoundland and Labrador, have approved public health insurance coverage for Uptravi (selexipag), a pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) therapy developed by Actelion. Quebec was the first province to approve public funding for Uptravi in Canada, in March 2018. The…

Intravenous infusions of treprostinil can improve disease severity in children with pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), a birth defect that occurs when the diaphragm does not form properly, a new study shows. However, these babies have a greater likelihood of needing extracorporeal respiratory support,…

A Phase 1 clinical trial (NCT03464864) found that treprostinil can be safely delivered at varying doses using Technosphere, a novel inhalation device, MannKind, the device’s developer, announced. Treprostinil — a vasodilator —  was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2002 for the treatment of pulmonary…

Denovo Biopharma recently entered an exclusive global license agreement with Stanford University School of Medicine to further develop and market its lead compound, DB102 (formerly called enzastaurin), as a potential treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and emphysema. In research in preclinical models at Stanford, DB102 was found…

Canada’s healthcare system is excellent for people with common ailments like diabetes or high blood pressure, but it’s “basically failing the nearly three million Canadians with rare diseases.” So says Durhane Wong-Rieger, president and CEO of the Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders (CORD), a Toronto-based network representing 102 patient advocacy…

A molecular mechanism involving the tight balance between two proteins — Gal-1 and CaV1.2 — was found to regulate the behavior of blood vessel cells, directly contributing to hypertension. This finding provides new insights into the underlying processes that trigger arterial contraction and hypertension, and its researchers suggest that a…