High blood pressure is the main cause of strokes, and a common cause of heart attacks and kidney failure. In most people with the condition, the cause is unknown, and they need life-long treatment through drugs w ho eventually become resistant to it.
A new drug called Baxdrostat has been shown to significantly reduce high blood pressure (hypertension) in patients who may not respond to current treatments for the condition, according to results from a phase II trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions conference, the trial results represent the first time that this long-sought new class of drugs to treat resistant hypertension has been developed and successfully tested.
The trial, conducted over 12 weeks, gave 248 patients either a once daily dose of Baxdrostat at varying amounts or a placebo. At entry to the trial, none of these patients' blood pressure was controlled despite taking 3 or more medicines for high blood pressure. The doses of Baxdrostat, taken in addition to patients' usual medicines, varied from 2mg, to 1mg, to 0.5mg. At the end of the 12 weeks, the group who received the highest amount of Baxdrostat saw a 20-point fall in blood pressure. There was an 11-point difference between this group and that which received the placebo treatment, a difference rarely seen in any single drug to reduce blood pressure.
The results of this first-of-its-kind drug are exciting, although more testing is required before we can draw comparisons with any existing medications. But Baxdrostat could potentially offer hope to many people who do not respond to traditional hypertension treatment.
The researchers concluded that this study shows the drug causes a marked fall in blood pressure in patients whose hypertension is resistant to usual drugs, and that this type of hypertension is partly due to excess production of the aldosterone hormone.
Reference:
New drug can successfully treat patients typically resistant to high blood pressure treatment; New England Journal of Medicine.
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