Drug markers questioned

High blood pressure has become an accepted surrogate marker for cardiovascular disease, meaning that a fall in blood pressure can be used as an endpoint in clinical trials for drug approval. An advantage is that blood pressure can be measured quickly and cheaply, so a drug can be approved for use without the need to wait for its effect on distant and infrequent clinical outcomes such as heart attacks. Drugs that lower blood pressure are now regularly approved for cardiovascular disease on the basis of their ability to fight hypertension alone. Regulatory agencies do not require additional clinical trials to determine whether drugs also reduce heart attacks or strokes, in the U. S.