People with high blood pressure that are uncontrolled or poorly treated with most drugs can benefit from a new drug that is promising in the results of clinical trials, according to a study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine
The study revealed that Lorundostat, the drug manufactured by Mineralys Therapeutics, based in Pennsylvania, has reached an average decrease of 15 points of the Systolic Blood Pressure of Participants, an observation which was a little more than double the reduction observed in patients who received placebo treatment. Directed in 285 patients nationally, including some living in the county of San Diego, the results of the study are similar to those observed in a phase three trial of Lorundostat conducted in 1,083 patients, for whom preliminary results were published in March.
Systolic blood pressure is the highest of the two figures whose patients are generally cited during regular medical checks. It represents the force exerted on blood vessels when the heart beats.
Dr. Michael Wilkinson, the local principal researcher of the San Diego branch of studying phase two and cardiologist at UC San Diego Health, said that the drug, which blocks the action of the Aldosterone hormone, is particularly promising due to its ability to reduce systolic blood pressure while provoking minimum complications. Aldosterone is known to cause water and sodium retention in the kidneys, increasing the total blood volume and therefore the pressure that can damage blood vessels and other critical tissues in the body.
“The key to understanding the meaning of the reduction in systolic blood pressure is that they are patients that we see in our clinic who have uncontrolled hypertension, despite the use of two anti-hypertensive drugs,” said Wilkinson. “These patients need new and additional options to treat their high blood pressure.”
Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and would affect more than 120 million Americans.
Being able to reduce the pressure by 15 points, he said, could be clinically significant, especially for those on the most extreme side of the scale.
“We would expect the possibility of helping these patients reach safer blood pressure levels making a significant difference in helping them avoid heart attacks and strokes,” said Wilkinson.
UC San Diego and several other smaller local clinical trial centers are among 104 nationally which participated in phase two trials that have registered patients with blood pressure measures of at least 149/90 mm Hg. The randomized and controlled trial by placebo is only open to those who take, but not significantly benefiting between two and five anti-hypertension drugs.
Participants had to stop their existing therapeutic patterns and adopt standardized treatment before taking the medication, which was evaluated either in a daily dose of 50 milligrams, or in an increasing dose at 100 milligrams during the 12 -week study.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
