News

Eligible pulmonary hypertension patients could gain access to financial assistance in paying for PH therapies approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under a newly opened copay assistance program set up by The Assistance Fund (TAF). TAF is an independent charitable organization based in Florida. Started in 2009 for patients and…

United Therapeutics has now acquired worldwide rights over ralinepag, a potential oral medication under Phase 2 and 3 clinical testing for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), the company announced in a press release…

A ventilator-compatible nitric oxide generator and delivery system, called AirNOvent, for patients with pulmonary hypertension and related conditions, will be made available by Circassia Pharmaceuticals to hospitals in the U.S. and China next year. This is made possible through a $32.5 million commercial license agreement signed with AIT…

High levels of cardiac troponin in the blood of pulmonary hypertension (PH) patients are associated with a poorer prognosis, according to a study. The meta-analysis study, “Serum Cardiac Troponin Elevation Predicts Mortality in Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension: A Meta‐Analysis of 8 Cohort Studies,” was published in The…

Male patients with group 3 pulmonary hypertension (PH) have worse right ventricular (RV) function compared with female patients, according to a  study. Impaired RV function also was found to be associated with reduced overall survival and higher hospitalization rates linked to heart failure. The group study “Clinical Determinants and…

The prevalence of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in South Korea is comparable with that reported in other countries, according to a reassessment study of medical insurance data. The study, “Demographics, treatment trends, and survival rate in incident pulmonary artery hypertension in Korea: A nationwide study based on the…

Waiting for a lung transplant in the intensive care unit at a New York hospital in November 2017, a 21-year-old pulmonary hypertension patient named Miriam Holman sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Her lawsuit accused the department of allocating organs based on a patient’s geographic location,…

Actelion Pharmaceuticals has received a complete response letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) specifying that the company needs to conduct further studies and obtain more data in order to accurately assess the use of Opsumit (macitentan) in the treatment of patients with inoperable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). The…

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) resolves over time in nearly two-thirds of premature babies, a study shows. However, the findings also revealed that being male, steroid use, and greater PH severity were associated with increased mortality in these patients. The study, “Death…

Doctors in the Netherlands are using the VMS Heart Analysis System, developed by Ventripoint Diagnostics, for early diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in sarcoidosis patients. Approximately 500 patients with sarcoidosis have been tested, using the VMS Heart Analysis System for detecting PH at an early stage. Marco Post,…

Treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) with Tracleer (bosentan) may be more cost-effective than epoprostenol medications or palliative care, but less than Revatio (sildenafil) and other endothelin receptor blockers, a review study suggests. The study, “Cost Effectiveness of Bosentan for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: A…

Tracleer (bosentan) treatment improves mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) in β-thalassemia patients with potential pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), according to a case report of three patients. The report, “The improvement of pulmonary artery pressure after bosentan therapy in patients with β-thalassemia and Doppler-defined pulmonary arterial hypertension,”…