Transforming Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Management: Bridging Clinical Practice, Innovative Therapies, and Economic Impact

Panelists discuss how the pathophysiology of pulmonary arterial hypertension involves complex mechanisms across multiple genetic and treatment pathways, with over 20 identified genes and four major therapeutic targets including nitric oxide, endothelin, prostacyclin, and activin signaling inhibition.

Panelists discuss how pulmonary arterial hypertension diagnosis requires comprehensive evaluation including right heart catheterization to confirm hemodynamic criteria, with normal mean PA pressure being ≤20 mmHg and the need to rule out other causes of pulmonary hypertension.

Panelists discuss how early detection barriers include nonspecific symptoms like progressive dyspnea that are often misattributed to more common conditions, leading to delayed diagnosis and the need for improved diagnostic algorithms using biomarkers and imaging.

Panelists discuss how disease progression monitoring requires integrating multiple data points including symptoms, six-minute walk tests, biomarkers like BNP/NT-proBNP, and imaging studies, with risk stratification tools helping guide treatment decisions while considering individual patient characteristics.

Panelists discuss how treatment individualization depends on patient-specific factors including age, comorbidities, disease severity, and personal preferences, balancing clinical guidelines with shared decision-making to optimize both efficacy and adherence.

Panelists discuss how current therapeutic strengths include 15 approved treatments with different mechanisms of action that can work synergistically, while limitations involve variable delivery methods and complexity, leading to more aggressive upfront combination therapy approaches.

Panelists discuss how riociguat targets the nitric oxide pathway and is approved for both Group 1 PAH and Group 4 chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, with specific patient selection criteria based on risk stratification and surgical candidacy.

Panelists discuss how sotatercept represents a paradigm shift as the first activin signaling inhibitor showing dramatic improvements in heavily pretreated patients, with the Stellar and Zenith trials demonstrating significant reductions in clinical worsening and potential for reverse remodeling.

Panelists discuss how prostacyclin pathway treatments remain important but challenging due to significant side effects and delivery complexity, with sotatercept potentially reducing reliance on parenteral prostacyclins while maintaining their role in high-risk patients with low cardiac output.

Panelists discuss how managing patients with comorbidities requires careful evaluation to distinguish true Group 1 PAH features from underlying cardiac or pulmonary disease, with a more measured treatment approach and close monitoring for complications.

Panelists discuss how healthcare resource utilization is primarily driven by hospitalizations, medication costs, and outpatient monitoring, with early diagnosis and treatment potentially reducing long-term costs by preventing disease progression and avoiding expensive advanced therapies.

Panelists discuss how patient financial burden varies significantly by insurance type and often leads to treatment interruptions, while prior authorization barriers create administrative challenges that could be improved through better collaboration between medical and payer communities.

Panelists discuss how cost-effectiveness analyses of newer therapies like sotatercept show substantial benefits in reducing clinical worsening events and potentially decreasing downstream costs through reduced hospitalizations and transplantations, supporting value-based payment models.

Panelists discuss how the future of PAH treatment looks promising with potential for disease remission through reverse remodeling agents, emphasizing the need for continued research focus on patients with other forms of pulmonary hypertension and those with significant comorbidities.