Assessment of once-daily eprosartan, an angiotensin II antagonist, in patients with systemic hypertension

A multicenter, randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial was conducted to assess the efficacy of once-daily eprosartan, a nonbiphenyl, nonterrazole angiotensin II-receptor antagonist, in 243 patients with mild-to-moderate systemic hypertension (sitting diastolic blood pressure [SitDBP], 95-114 mm Hg). After a 3- to 5-week single-masked placebo run-in period to obtain baseline values, patients were randomly allocated to receive 600 mg eprosartan once daily or placebo for 8 weeks. All clinic blood pressure measurements were made 24 hours +/- 90 minutes after dosing. Eprosartan produced statistically and clinically significant reductions in SitDBP(-7.5+/-0.8 mm Hg) and sitting systolic blood pressure (SitSBP) (-6.0 +/- 1.3 mm Hg) compared with placebo (SitDBP -1.9 +/- 0.7 mm Hg; SitSBP 0.8 +/- 1.2 mm Hg). The 95% confidence intervals for the difference from placebo were -8.1 to 4.1 for SitDBP and -11.0 to -4.0 for SitSBP (both, P < 0.0001). The proportion of patients responding (SitDBP was <90 mm Hg or had decreased by greater than or equal to 10 mm Hg from baseline at study end point) to eprosartan was significantly higher than the proportion of those responding to placebo (42% vs 21%, respectively; P = 0.0003). Similar results were obtained in a subgroup analysis comparing patients aged <65 years with those aged greater than or equal to 65 years. The total number of adverse events was similar in the eprosartan and placebo groups. Eprosartan 600 mg once daily was both well tolerated and effective, providing significant blood pressure reduction 24 hours after dosing in patients with mild-to-moderate systemic hypertension, regardless of age.