(Credit for Photo: Photo Provided with Release Courtesy of Allegheny Health Network)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) Cardiovascular disease specialists at Allegheny Health Network’s (AHN) Allegheny General Hospital have recently become the first in the region to join a clinical trial which evaluates a new medical therapy for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

PAH is a form of high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs that is responsible for circulating non-oxygenated blood through the pulmonary system.

This is a serious, progressive disease that can lead to heart failure and death if it is not managed properly.

AHN is the only health system in the tri-state area that is currently enrolling patients in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, which is sponsored by Novartis that explores the effectiveness, safety and tolerability of an investigational drug known as LTP001 that blocks and targets a protein created in the body that is believed to be a cause of PAH.

The study is being led locally by Hayah Kassis-George, MD, who is a board-certified cardiologist at AHN that specializes in pulmonary hypertension.