A new drug against blood pressure helps people with uncontrolled hypertension in the trial

A new type of medication can help reduce blood pressure in people with uncontrolled hypertension, reported researchers on Saturday at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Chicago.

In a pivot clinical trial of phase 2B, patients who took the lorundrostat of experimental drugs as well as two or three hypertension drugs currently available have seen a decrease in systolic blood pressure (the upper number) which was 8 points more than what was observed in patients who obtained a placebo. The study will be published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“This new potential therapy for hypertension is fascinating,” said the main study of the study, Dr. Luke Laffin, co-director of the Center for Herf-Orssorders of the Institut du Coeur, Vascular and Thoracic of the Cleveland Clinic. “We do a bad job to control blood pressure in the United States”

According to centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost half of adults in the United States suffer from hypertension; Among them, less than 1 in 4 have their blood pressure under control.

Hypertension is diagnosed when a person has a blood pressure of 130/80 mm Hg or more. A systolic measure between 120 and 129 mm Hg is considered high. A normal measurement is 120/80 mm Hg or less.

Unscontrolled hypertension – which Laffin has defined as a measure of 130/80 mm HG or more, even with drugs – is linked to a higher risk of heart attacks, cerebral vascular accidents, heart failure and renal failure.

Among patients taking medication for hypertension, the control rate is 60% to 70%, said Dr. Ajay Kirtane, cardiologist and professor of medicine at Columbia University Vacelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, which was not involved in research. This leaves 30% to 40% of patients who need another option.

Lorundrostat is intended for this group of patients. The drug, which is part of a class called aldosterone synthase inhibitors, works by blocking the synthesis of the adrenal glands of a hormone called aldosterone, which controls the amount of salt retained by the body. When the aldosterone is reduced, the same goes for salt levels and therefore the blood pressure.

To test the safety and efficiency of Lorundrostat, Laffin and his colleagues recruited 285 adults suffering from uncontrolled hypertension whose average age was 60 years. More than half (53%) of the participants were black.

Black patients are among those most at risk, said Laffin. According to the American Heart Association, around 55% of black adults have high blood pressure.

Dr. Oscar Cingolani, director of the hypertension program at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said that the inclusion of so many black patients is “a great and great thing”, noting that “African-Americans … tend to be more reactive to this path”.

All trial patients were already taking a mixture of blood pressure drugs. When the trial started, the researchers standardized these treatments by putting all patients on two or three specific drugs. Three weeks later, they randomly assigned the participants to obtain a placebo or one of the two doses of Lorundrostat for the next 12 weeks.

At three points, the participants brought a blood pressure armband for a period of 24 hours: at the start, four weeks after the start of treatment, then at 12 weeks.

Participants taking the lower dose of Lorundrostat, 50 milligrams, the more standard drugs have seen a decrease in average systolic blood pressure of 15.4 points, while the group receiving placebo more standard drugs experienced a decrease of 7.4 points – so that the decrease linked to the blood pressure medication after accounting of the placebo was 8 points.

Increasing the drug dose has not improved the results.

Although the placebo’s response may seem high, this is most likely due to the people in a study and the attention of health professionals, which makes them more scrupulous to take their drugs, experts said.

With a decrease of 8 points, let’s say from 170 to 162, “this is the range where you would do in a longer -term study, see reductions in heart attacks and stroke,” said Dr. Deepak Bhatt, director of Mount Sinai Fuster Heart in New York.

Aldosterone synthase inhibitors are a new class of drugs, some of which are closer to being taken into account for approval by Food and Drug Administration than others, said Bhatt. Another, Baxdrostat, is currently in phase 3 tests.

Lorundrostat has proven promising in the three levels of clinical trials necessary for approval. The last, the phase 3 test, is finished, although the results have not yet been published, said Laffin. Researchers work on trials with Mineral Mineralys Therapeutics, which financed the tests.

The drug could potentially be available within 12 to 18 months, said Laffin.

The trial patients who obtained lorundrostat were more likely than those who obtained the placebo to develop high potassium levels. This is something that patient doctors should keep an eye on, said Bhatt, as it can cause abnormal heart rhythms.

Cingolani, by Johns Hopkins, said that he would like to see long -term studies on new drugs and also those that could compare lorundrostat to an older medication that works by blocking the aldosterone receiver.