A new drug for treating arterial hypertension – improvement over existing medications

A new medicine for treating pulmonary arterial hypertension has been found to cause side effects in fewer patients, and it only needs to be taken once a day.

Swiss pharmaceutical company Actelion recently received FDA approval for the drug, macitentan (Opsumit®).

The drug was approved at a 10-mg dose, which was tested in a multi-center clinical study over a 36-month period, which is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“The new drug does not cause a common side effect of other drugs: leg swelling and risk of liver damage in some patients,” says Raed Dweik, MD, Director of the Pulmonary Vascular Program at Cleveland Clinic.

Macitentan blocks the negative effects of endothelin, a powerful substance in the body that constricts blood vessels and increases blood pressure.

Even though it’s natural for the human body to produce endothelin, it can produce too much in response to inflammation, high blood pressure or high cholesterol.