Top news of August: Tezepelumab breakthrough designation, pitolisant use in OSA
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Healio has compiled the most-read news in pulmonology posted in August.
Highlights include tezepelumab (Tezspire; Amgen, AstraZeneca) receiving breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA; pitolisant (Wakix, Harmony Biosciences) lowering excessive daytime sleepiness in adults with obstructive sleep apnea over 1 year; a study showing that air filters are cost-effective for wildfire-related asthma problems in some regions in British Columbia; a text message intervention found to lower e-cigarette use in adolescents; a Q&A discussing the dangers of vaping devices with games; and more.
Read these and other top stories in pulmonology below:
FDA grants breakthrough designation to tezepelumab for COPD
Tezepelumab has received an FDA breakthrough therapy designation as a maintenance treatment for patients with moderate to very severe COPD characterized by an eosinophilic phenotype, according to an Amgen press release. Read more.
Pitolisant safe, lowers daytime sleepiness in OSA over 1 year
Among adults with obstructive sleep apnea, excessive daytime sleepiness decreased with 1 year of pitolisant treatment, according to results published in CHEST. Read more.
Air filters cost effective for wildfire-related asthma problems in some areas
In British Columbia, a rebate of $100 for an air filter that lowers indoor smoke concentrations was deemed cost effective in multiple regions, according to results published in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Also, Eilean McKenzie-Matwiy, PhD, manager of National Research Programs at the Canadian Lung Association, shares her Perspective. Read more.
Text message intervention lowers e-cigarette use in adolescents
Receiving daily text messages as part of an e-cigarette cessation intervention led to a larger vaping abstinence rate at 7 months vs. a control treatment in adolescents, according to results published in JAMA. Read more.
Q&A: E-cigarettes doubling as gaming devices put youth at risk for addiction
Vaping devices with games are creating an even bigger challenge when it comes to convincing adolescents not to vape, posing dangers of nicotine addiction and gaming disorder, according to a press release. Read more.
Patients with metastatic cancer, shock benefit from earlier sepsis antibiotics
With earlier receipt of antibiotics for sepsis, those with vs. without metastatic cancer or shock had larger reductions in 30-day mortality, according to results published in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Read more.
Q&A: Electrocardiography-based sleep stage scoring ‘on par’ with polysomnography
Polysomnography is the current gold standard in sleep testing, but a new method has achieved similar performance in sleep stage scoring via an electrocardiography-based deep learning neural network, according to a press release. Read more.
Changes in pneumonia diagnosis frequent in hospitalized veterans
Between initial presentation in the ED and hospital discharge, 56.7% of veterans experienced a change in their pneumonia diagnosis, according to results published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Read more.
Electrocardiogram-based AI algorithm identifies pulmonary hypertension before diagnosis
An AI algorithm had high discriminative ability in identifying pulmonary hypertension-likely patients from control patients at and before diagnosis using electrocardiogram data, according to study results published in European Respiratory Journal. Read more.
Q&A: Yutrepia for PAH, pulmonary hypertension-ILD receives tentative FDA approval
Around 7 months after not meeting the Prescription Drug User Fee Act goal date for Yutrepia, the FDA has tentatively approved the drug for pulmonary arterial hypertension and pulmonary hypertension-associated interstitial lung disease. Read more.