Here is the latest news that i could find.
http://www.thestreet.com/_googlen/comment/adamfeuerstein/10190912.html
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Study: Viagra Promising in Hypertension
Wed October 27, 2004 04:08 PM ET
By Bill BerkrotNEW YORK (Reuters) - Viagra, Pfizer Inc's PFE.N famous impotence treatment, demonstrated great promise in a late-stage clinical trial for use in treating the often fatal disease pulmonary arterial hypertension, researchers said.In data presented Wednesday at the American College of Chest Physicians annual meeting in Seattle, Viagra after 12 weeks improved the exercise capacity of patients as measured by distance covered in a 6-minute walk -- a standard test for PAH therapies."It was highly statistically significant to an extent that we never saw before with other therapies," Dr. Ardeschir Ghofrani of Germany's Gienssen University Hospital, who presented the data, said in a telephone interview.Ghofrani said the Viagra patients also had significant improvement in shortness of breath, although that was not one of the primary goals of the study.Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a lethal build-up of blood pressure in arteries that connect the heart to the lungs. Patients often ultimately need heart and lung transplants to survive the disease.The 278-patient study tested Viagra, also known by its chemical name sildenafil citrate, at 20, 40 and 80 milligrams taken three times daily versus a placebo.The Viagra patients at each dose fared better than the placebo group in the 6-minute walk test, researchers said.The 20 mg patients walked 148 feet further than the placebo group, the 40 mg patients 151 feet further and the 80 mg group 164 feet further."Increasing 6-minute walking distance is not only a number in meters but is also associated with a better prognosis with patients, so an increase of 50 meters is absolutely clinically meaningful," Ghofrani said.The erectile dysfunction drug was originally designed to treat the heart condition angina, which did not work out, when researchers stumbled upon the effect that became its multibillion-dollar use.As Viagra faced increasing competition in the erectile dysfunction arena, Pfizer stepped up its research into other potential uses for the drug, including pulmonary arterial hypertension.While Pfizer has not said when it will seek approval for Viagra to treat PAH, Ghofrani said he believed these results might be enough to convince U.S. and European regulators."I hope it will be soon because we need new and better therapies for the treatment of PAH," he said.Ghofrani speculated that the drug may even help patients put off or avoid the need for heart and lung transplants."We want to prevent these very invasive measures," he said. "We had early trials at our hospital show that there are patients that are removed from the transplant list."The data was being closely watched by Actelion ATLN.S and its investors as an approval for Viagra to treat PAH would provide direct competition for Actelion's flagship drug Tracleer, which accounts for virtually all of the Swiss biotechnology company's revenue.Tracleer is currently the only approved oral treatment for PAH.Encysive Pharmaceuticals ENCY.O is also developing an experimental PAH treatment called Thelin.Pfizer shares were up 65 cents, or 2.3 percent to $28.97 on the New York Stock Exchange
