Action News 5: PEP Buddy helps people breathe easier
UC Venture Lab-backed startup aims to help people affected by COPD
A hands-free device developed by researchers at the University of Cincinnati could help the 12.5 million Americans who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease breathe easier, Action News 5 in Memphis, Tennessee, reported.
PEP Buddy, a UC Venture Lab-backed startup, was created by Muhammad Ahsan Zafar, MD, and Ralph J. Panos, MD.
With COPD, it takes longer for people to get inhaled air out of their lungs. With each breath, extra air is retained in the lungs. This “air stacking” during activities (dynamic hyperinflation) is the primary reason for breathlessness in people with COPD and also leads to decreased oxygen levels.
PEP Buddy gives a gentle back pressure while the user breathes out, which assists in keeping open air tubes in the lungs and preventing them from collapsing. The device also prolongs the exhalation phase and reduces the breathing rate, decreasing the effects of air stacking.
“It’s just simply placed in the mouth, one breath in through the nose, and then out through the device. That resistance to airflow creates the back pressure, which relieves the air trapping and dynamic hyperinflation,” Panos said.
Featured image at top: PEP Buddy device. Photo/PEP Buddy
Innovation Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
Related Stories
UC co-op helps build career pathways at AtriCure
July 28, 2026
AtriCure, a global medical device company in Mason, Ohio, is UC’s largest biomedical engineering co-op employer, turning University of Cincinnati co-op students into full-time innovators.
UC doctoral student shares his journey with Spectrum News
July 27, 2026
UC doctoral student Amota Ataneka spoke with Spectrum News about his educational journey. Ataneka, a native of the Pacific island nation of Kiribati, is one of 35 emerging scholars across the United States to win the National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship.
How scammers can persuade you with AI
July 27, 2026
Spectrum News recently dove into how cloning voices with artificial intelligence is making it easier to scam people over the phone. The news outlet spoke with Kimberly Hyun, assistant professor of marketing at UC’s Lindner College of Business, to examine why AI is making it so much easier to trick people.