Bayer Schering Pharma receives hypertension treatment trial permission

Bayer Schering Pharma has been given ethical permission to begin a phase III trial for its agent riociguat, which is part of a new class of therapeutics that stimulate the soluble guanylate cyclise enzyme.

The organisation explained its planned trial will investigate the effects of the drug in individuals with pulmonary arterial hypertension and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.

Professor Hossein Ardeschir Ghofrani, head of the Pulmonary Hypertension Division within the Department of Internal Medicine at the University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Germany, said the researchers are "encouraged" by phase II findings.

He stated if the results are replicated in the phase III trials, they will represent "an exciting breakthrough for patients with pulmonary hypertension and the physicians who treat them".

Earlier this month, the company announced enrolment had opened for the Bayer Newbury 10K, a run organised in cooperation with a local athletic club to help raise money for a range of charities.