Research & Development

[Kathleen Sheffer]

Clinical trials are crucial to making progress in the treatment of pulmonary hypertension. Researchers often struggle to recruit patients for trials as they often involve myriad additional tests, with a chance of receiving a placebo instead of the therapy.

What do you think about clinical trials? Have you participated in any? Are there any clinical trials on the horizon that interest you?

[Beverly Duffield]

In the last two years I have participated in over a dozen laboratory trials for Heart Failure with preserved Ejection Fraction. Many Group 2 patients have HFpEF. These are not “pill trials” for the most part but are NIH/VA funded physiological research trials to figure out what’s going on electrically,mechanically and chemically in an effort to find what might be of future therapeutic value.

I just did one in the last two weeks that has to do with vascular responses to a certain leg exercise. One day was in an MRI scanner the other in the labs. It is astounding what scientists can learn from these simple exercises! The number of intricate instruments is equally astounding. I wouldn’t miss opportunities like this for anything.

If anyone is interested I’ll describe some of them in detail.

[Kathleen Sheffer]

That’s really interesting, Beverly. I think more patients would be willing to participate in trials like this where they don’t have the fear of receiving a placebo instead of the drug. I am always happy to give blood or undergo other tests that will help them learn about PH. Would love to hear more about the trials you’re involved in!

[Stephannie Baker]

I feel that clinical trials play a critical role in developing new treatments and drugs and also make life easier for people suffering from such illnesses. Without any trials, there would be no treatments for PH. Medical science needs trials and trials need participants. It brings the breakthrough in curing incurable diseases and disorders. I wouldn’t know how it was the patients going through an illness and participating in a trial. How it must feel. As a Scientist, it is very subjective. An answer to a cause is the way. The field I work in, I haven’t heard of a lot of clinical trials for PH. The reason could be that it is a rare disease so getting people having PH for a trial would be difficult. Hence, all the clinical research organization could have a delay in finding new drugs. I hope I can find some. I’ll surely post them here. Beverly, I’d like to hear more, too.

[Jen Cueva]

Hi @beverly-duffield, I haven’t seen you share anything since the older posts. I was wondering how you’re doing, and are you continuing to participate in any newer clinical trials?

I appreciate your passion for helping these scientists try and discover new ways to help us all in the future. Thanks for sharing some examples. When I do my light exercises, I think about things like this.

Has anyone else participated in any types of clinical trials? Please share with us your thoughts and experiences.

[Author]

Posts