THURSDAY, Aug. 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Tadalafil (Cialis) combined with ambrisentan (Letairis) significantly reduces the progression of pulmonary arterial hypertension, according to a study published in the Aug. 27 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Researchers recruited 500 patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension to take part in the clinical trial. The study involved 120 medical centers in 14 countries, and ran between October 2010 and July 2014. About half of the patients received both drugs, while one-quarter received tadalafil alone and another quarter received ambrisentan alone.
Only about 18 percent of patients on combination therapy died or experienced severe progression of pulmonary arterial hypertension, compared with 31 percent of patients taking either ambrisentan or tadalafil alone. And it appeared that using the two drugs together produced no additional side effects.
"Among participants with pulmonary arterial hypertension who had not received previous treatment, initial combination therapy with ambrisentan and tadalafil resulted in a significantly lower risk of clinical-failure events than the risk with ambrisentan or tadalafil monotherapy," the authors write.
The clinical trial was funded by the makers of the two drugs, Gilead Sciences and GlaxoSmithKline.
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