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Monotherapy and Dual Combination Therapies Based on Olmesartan: A Comprehensive Strategy to Improve Blood Pressure Control

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Abstract

Olmesartan medoxomil is an antihypertensive drug of the class of angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) receptor antagonists (or blockers), characterized by tight and prolonged binding to AT1 receptor compared to other molecules within the same class. These characteristics produce effective and sustained blood pressure reductions in hypertensive patients at different cardiovascular risk profile with a good tolerability profile. After a brief description of the pharmacological characteristics of olmesartan, we will provide a thorough overview of the clinical studies that investigated its efficacy and safety in the clinical management of hypertensive patients both in monotherapy and in dual combination therapies with either thiazide diuretics or calcium channel blockers. These studies demonstrated that olmesartan-based antihypertensive strategy may indeed provide sustained BP control over the 24-h period in a wide proportion of hypertensive patients, thus contributing to a substantial progress in hypertension management. Finally, since growing evidence suggest that olmesartan may also exert potential favourable effects at vascular level, thereby antagonizing the vascular inflammatory process involved in the development and progression of atherosclerosis, the main clinical studies addressing this issue will be also discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chair and Division of Cardiology, Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sant’Andrea Hospital, University of Rome Sapienza, Via di Grottarossa, 1035-39, 00189, Rome, Italy

    Massimo Volpe, Caterina Santolamazza, Vittoria Mastromarino, Allegra Battistoni & Giuliano Tocci

  2. IRCCS Neuromed, Pozzilli, IS, Italy

    Massimo Volpe, Roberta Coluccia & Giuliano Tocci

Authors
  1. Massimo Volpe
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  2. Caterina Santolamazza
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  3. Vittoria Mastromarino
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  4. Roberta Coluccia
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  5. Allegra Battistoni
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  6. Giuliano Tocci
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Massimo Volpe.

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Funding

Expert review of the manuscript has been founded by Menarini International Operations Luxembourg S.A. (MIOL).

Conflict of interest

MV has served in international advisory boards of Daiichi Sankyo, Menarini International, Amgen and Novartis, and has lectured in symposia supported by Guidotti and Malesci; GT has lectured in symposia supported by Menarini, Malesci, Guidotti; CS, VM, RC and AB have no conflict of interest to disclose.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain data derived by any current studies with human participants performed by any of the authors. The clinical studies mentioned were provided with specific ethical approval.

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Volpe, M., Santolamazza, C., Mastromarino, V. et al. Monotherapy and Dual Combination Therapies Based on Olmesartan: A Comprehensive Strategy to Improve Blood Pressure Control. High Blood Press Cardiovasc Prev 24, 243–253 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40292-017-0216-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40292-017-0216-1

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