Advances in therapy
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Advances in therapy · May 2013
Multicenter StudyEvaluation of a new formulation of epoprostenol sodium in Japanese patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (EPITOME4).
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is associated with poor prognosis despite significant recent advances in its treatment. An intravenous formulation of epoprostenol sodium containing glycine and mannitol (epoprostenol GM; GlaxoSmithKline, London, UK) is widely used to treat PAH. A new formulation of epoprostenol sodium containing arginine and sucrose excipients (epoprostenol AS; Actelion Pharmaceuticals Japan Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) shows better stability at room temperature after preparing diluted solutions. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the safety and tolerability of switching from epoprostenol GM to epoprostenol AS in Japanese patients with PAH. The authors also evaluated the efficacy and treatment satisfaction after switching formulations. ⋯ Switching from epoprostenol GM to the same dose of epoprostenol AS was well tolerated over 12 weeks of treatment, and pulmonary hemodynamics were maintained. Switching to epoprostenol AS was also associated with improvements in treatment satisfaction (convenience). Clinical Trials: JapicCTI-122017.
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Advances in therapy · May 2013
Observational StudyTumor necrosis factor-blocker dose escalation in rheumatoid arthritis patients in a pharmacy benefit management setting.
Dose escalation with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-blockers is poorly characterized in pharmacy benefit management (PBM) settings. ⋯ New and continuing patients from this PBM database on etanercept had significantly lower rates of dose escalation than patients on adalimumab.