Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Prairie View A&M University have found that some cancer drugs can potentially be used to treat pulmonary hypertension, a rare lung disease that is otherwise incurable.

A study published in the scientific journal Science Advances used an algorithm to sort through cancer treatment drugs and identify which ones could be useful to treat pulmonary hypertension.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a type of high blood pressure that occurs in the vessels that transport blood from the heart to the lungs. The disease makes the heart work harder, and can result in heart failure, multi-organ dysfunction and death. The condition can affect anyone, but tends to affect young women more often than men.

“Repurposing drugs can cut down the time and cost of developing treatments for rare diseases, which historically don't receive much investment into research and drug development,” senior author Stephen Chan, professor of medicine and director of the Vascular Medicine Institute at Pitt and UPMC, said in a statement.

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