Dapagliflozin did not clearly improve exercise capacity
Peak oxygen use was an adjusted 0.67 milliliters per kilogram per minute lower with dapagliflozin than placebo in stable, symptomatic pulmonary arterial or chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.
Limit: Only 52 patients were randomized in the trial
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
The randomized trial enrolled 52 patients with stable, symptomatic pulmonary arterial hypertension or chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension—high blood pressure in lung arteries, in the latter case linked to persistent blood clots. Their mean age was 66.5 years, and 63% were female. All were taking drugs that widen blood vessels. At one center, researchers assigned them to dapagliflozin, 10 mg daily, or placebo for 12 weeks. Neither participants nor researchers knew the assignments.
Dapagliflozin did not significantly improve peak oxygen use during exercise. The range of likely effects included no difference. It also did not significantly improve resistance to blood flow through the lungs or six-minute walking distance. The authors described the drug as well tolerated but provided no adverse-event counts.
Why it matters
In patients averaging 66.5 years old, the trial addressed whether benefits seen in left-sided heart failure might extend to a different condition affecting the heart and lungs.
Caveats
This small, single-center trial lasted only 12 weeks and studied stable, symptomatic patients already taking blood-vessel-widening drugs. The findings were reported in a conference abstract.
The paper
Rigshospitalet - Copenhagen University Hospital
ESC Congress 2026 Abstract, Oct 26, 2026
Presented at ESC Congress 2026
