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Tadalafil in idiopathic or heritable pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) compared to PAH associated with connective tissue disease

N. Galie', C. Denton, F. Dardi, A. Manes, G. Mazzanti, Bao-Hui Li, L. Varanese, A. Esler et al.

International Journal of Cardiology, 2017

19 citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The primary objective of this post hoc analysis was to evaluate clinical outcomes of tadalafil in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) associated with connective tissue disease (CTD-PAH) compared with patients with idiopathic/heritable PAH (I/H-PAH) for primary and key secondary efficacy endpoints, and safety. This analysis included adult patients with CTD-PAH or I/H-PAH who participated in the PHIRST and PHIRST-2 studies.

METHODS: Patients were randomized 1:1:1:1:1 to tadalafil (2.5, 10, 20, or 40mg) or placebo in the PHIRST study and the majority of these patients were subsequently assigned 40mg in PHIRST-2. Patients taking 20mg in PHIRST without demonstrating clinical worsening continued on 20mg in PHIRST-2. Outcomes analyzed included 6MWD, WHO-FC, and incidence and time to first occurrence of clinical worsening. Safety was assessed through evaluation of adverse events (AEs), clinical laboratory data, electrocardiograms, and physical examinations.

RESULTS: Increased 6MWD in PHIRST was maintained in both CTD-PAH and I/H-PAH subgroups for 52weeks. Patients with CTD-PAH tended to be older, were more likely female, had lower exercise capacity, were more likely to have clinical worsening, and experienced AEs more frequently than patients with I/H-PAH.

CONCLUSION: The effect of tadalafil treatment in patients enrolled in both PHIRST studies was detectable for both I/H-PAH and CTD-PAH subgroups. In general, subgroup differences were modest. Patients…

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