Therapeutic advantages of AT₁ blockers in hypertension

Abstract

Most antihypertensives have advantages and disadvantages. The ideal antihypertensive drug should be effective in lowering blood pressure, well tolerated, safe in the long term, and easy to use. Ideally, it should be relatively inexpensive. Most importantly it should reduce the risk of the adverse effects of high blood pressure, such as myocardial infarction, sudden death, stroke, heart failure, renal damage, and retinal changes.

Most antihypertensive drugs effectively reduce blood pressure, are available as once daily preparations, and are safe long-term. Unfortunately, most antihypertensive drugs cause adverse effects in some patients and for few drugs is there good evidence that they protect the heart, the brain, the kidney, and the eye? Reducing the effects of Angiotensin II (using an ACE inhibitor) has been shown to reduce the incidence of coronary events, sudden death, heart failure, renal damage, and fundal changes. AT₁ blocking drugs offer the same pharmacological advantages but also very good tolerability, in particular no cough. Therefore, they have the potential to meet all the criteria for an ideal antihypertensive drug.