Patients with pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure in the lungs) can participate in the double-blind, randomized, phase II, EmPAH study. Typical symptoms of this disease include shortness of breath during physical exertion, fatigue, weakness, chest pain, brief fainting spells, and water retention in the legs.
Before a patient is enrolled into the study, written consent to participate must be signed. Study-specific examinations are then carried out to check whether participation is possible. After that, a randomization procedure decides whether the patient receives a placebo or the study drug empagliflozin. The comparison with the placebo helps to better assess the efficacy and possible side effects of empagliflozin.
The drug treatment lasts a total of four weeks.
Empagliflozin is already approved for patients with a specific form of heart failure. It can lower pressure in the pulmonary vessels and improve heart function.
This study is investigating whether four weeks of treatment with empagliflozin reduces pulmonary pressure and improves right heart function. The following points are also being recorded:
Right heart function, lung function, severity of the disease, quality of life, safety, and tolerability of empagliflozin.
