Sotatercept, the newest drug approved to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has been on the market Since May of 2024. In the phase 2 PULSAR trial and phase 3 STELLAR trial, sotatercept delivered impressive results, lowering pulmonary artery pressures, improving exercise capacity and leading to improvement in risk status and improved right heart function. Merck … [Read more...]
Aerovate and Inhaled Imatinib
Imatinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has been on the market for more than 20 years to treat a type of leukemia. It acts by turning off tyrosine kinases. You can think of tyrosine kinases as critical switches in cells that turn on and off critical pathways. Too much of an “on” signal leads to dysregulated cell proliferation and growth—such as seen … [Read more...]
Sotatercept for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
For the past 30 years, all our pulmonary arterial hypertension medications were described as vasodilators: First prostanoids (epoprostenol), then endothelin receptor antagonists (bosentan, ambrisentan, macitentan) and PDE5 inhibitors (sildenafil and tadalafil). These medications work through different mechanism but all lead to the vasodilation or … [Read more...]
Major Drug Developments in PAH July 2020
In a surprising development, Complexa abruptly terminated their phase 2 study in PAH. They seem to have taken a page from Reata’s playbook. The news blindsided the PAH community and is a reminder that the development of a successful medication is a long hard road. The company did not provide much explanation. This is the second … [Read more...]
Exciting New Clinical Trials in PAH
The wheels of progress continue to move forward in PAH research. Two companies in particular are preparing to launch very exciting clinical trials. Gossamer Bio Inhaled Drug Study Gossamer Bio, a biopharmaceutic company is preparing to launch a new phase 2 clinical research trial using an inhaled tyrosine kinase inhibitor. About 10 years … [Read more...]