American journal of cardiovascular drugs : drugs, devices, and other interventions

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• Am J Cardiovasc Drugs · Feb 2018

  Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study

  Targeting the Prostacyclin Pathway with Selexipag in Patients with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Receiving Double Combination Therapy: Insights from the Randomized Controlled GRIPHON Study.

  In pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), combination therapy is an important treatment strategy. Although randomized controlled trial data are available to support the combination of two therapies, data regarding triple combination therapy are few. ⋯ NCT01106014.

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• Am J Cardiovasc Drugs · Feb 2018

  Review

  Benefit-Risk Assessment of Crataegus Extract WS 1442: An Evidence-Based Review.

  Preparations from Crataegus (hawthorn) have a long history in the treatment of heart failure. WS 1442 is a dry extract from hawthorn leaves with flowers (4-6.6:1), extraction solvent of ethanol 45% (w/w), adjusted to 17.3-20.1% of oligomeric procyanidins. Nonclinical studies show that WS 1442 has positive inotropic and antiarrhythmic properties and protects the myocardium from ischemic damage, reperfusion injury, and hypertension-related hypertrophy, improves endothelial functions such as NO synthesis, and delays endothelial senescence. ⋯ WS 1442 may thus help to close the therapeutic gap between systolic and diastolic heart failure for which evidence of efficacy for other cardioactive drugs is sparse. Scientific evidence shows that WS 1442 is safe and has a beneficial effect in patients with heart failure corresponding to New York Heart Association classes II or III. The benefit-risk assessment for WS 1442 is therefore positive.

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