Uptravi is a drug that is used to treat adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension, this disease causes pressure in the arteries of the lungs in an abnormal way, so this drug neutralizes the serious effects of this pathology, such as slowing down the limitation of physical activity caused by said disease.
Uptravi contains an active substance called selexipag, this treatment can only be controlled by an experienced specialist who knows the disease. Also, patients with severe liver function should consume this drug.
To know how uptravi works is necessary to know what is hypertension pulmonary artery is a disease that constricts blood vessels of the lungs, this leads to high blood pressure in the vessels that carry blood from the heart to the lungs, reducing the amount of oxygen that can get into the blood in the lungs, making physical activity more difficult.
Selexipag, which is the active substance in Uptravi, works in a similar way to prostacyclin, which naturally regulates blood pressure by binding to receptors in the muscles of the walls of blood vessels, causing the vessels to become relax and widen.
The benefits of Uptravi are diverse, since they demonstrated in a study made to 1,156 patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension that Uptravi during a time of 70 weeks. The patients were either not previously treated or receiving treatment with other drugs. The main measure of effectiveness was based on the number of patients whose disease worsened or who died during treatment or shortly after treatment had ended. Overall, 24.4% (140 of 574) of Uptravi-treated patients died or showed signs of worsening disease compared to 36.4% (212 of 582) of placebo-treated patients.
This drug should not be used in patients who have had a heart attack in the past 6 months, severe coronary artery disease (heart disease caused by blockage of the blood vessels supplying the heart muscle), or unstable angina, which is a type of severe chest pain. It should not be used in patients with severe arrhythmias or heart valve defects.
For patients with other heart problems, Uptravi should only be used under medical supervision. It should also not be used in patients who have had a stroke in the past 3 months.
