Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Monday its drug Soliris has been declared an orphan drug by Japanese officials, a designation that will help speed the process of getting it approved for patients in the Pacific nation.

Soliris, a drug based on an anti-inflammatory antibody called eculizumab, is Alexion's only commercial product. It is used in the United States and Europe to treat patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, or PNH, a rare and potentially fatal genetic blood disorder.

 OBJECTIVES: Our goal was to investigate the effect of treatment with the oral dual endothelin receptor antagonist bosentan on the hemodynamics and exercise capacity of patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH)

 Salt reduction may offer cardio-protective effects beyond blood pressure reduction, researchers in Australia found.

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 Emirates has recently dropped all charges for oxygen "as a result of feedback from customers", and is now one of the few major airlines, along with British Airways and Virgin, that does not charge, according to a recent survey by the Pulmonary Hypertension Association UK (PHA).

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 The State Food and Drug Administration posted the recall announcement on its Web site today, saying research showed the diet drug can cause heart disease, pulmonary hypertension and a host of other problems. 

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 A NEW revolutionary device developed in Wales can “breathe” for people with diseased or damaged lungs.

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 Most recently, physicians at the Dominican Republic division of Regenocyte announced clinical results of a 46-year-old patient with pulmonary hypertension who was treated with Adult Stem Cells. His pulmonary artery mean pressure went from 41mmHg (severe pulmonary hypertension) to 24 mmHg (normal) in six months. The patient's saturations are now consistently high and he no longer needs to be supplemented with oxygen continuously or considered for a lung transplant.

 Lungs have been successfully "reconditioned" to make them suitable for transplanting, a team of Canadian doctors has claimed.

Up to 80% of donat

 There are several causes that lead to pulmonary edema, some permanent and some temporary. Pulmonary edema is due either to failure of the heart as a forward pump or maldistribution of fluid within the pulmonary circuit. The movement of excess fluid into the alveoli as a result of an alteration in one or more of Starling's forces (forces that cause interchange of fluids between the intravascular and interstitial spaces) is a key consideration in pulmonary edema.

 CHESHIRE, Conn., Dec. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Soliris(R) (eculizumab),a terminal complement inhibitor developed by Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(Nasdaq: ALXN), was observed by investigators to reduce blood measuresassociated with undiagnosed blood clots and inflammation in patients with PNH.

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