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
Her book drive is changing literacy in Cincinnati
August 31, 2026
WCPO highlights a nonprofit dedicated to childhood literacy that has offers co-op positions to UC students.
Major grant expands apprenticeship opportunities at UC
August 31, 2026
UC will expand registered apprenticeship opportunities in AI, semiconductor, and nuclear-energy infrastructure through a major U.S. Department of Labor grant partnership led by JFF.
Heavy social media use linked to depression
August 31, 2026
U.S. News and World Report, Yahoo! News, MSN, USA Today and other national media highlight a new study by the University of Cincinnati and Northwestern University that found a correlation between heavy social media use and depression in adults.