A new drug named Baxdrostat has created a ripple in the field of hypertension treatment. With a successful phase II trial, the drug showed great promise in treating patients who didn’t respond to existing medications.
This new drug class has long been sought after, and it seems like researchers have finally cracked the code.
In a 12-week-long trial involving 248 patients, participants were given either varying doses of Baxdrostat or a placebo. All patients were already on at least three medications for high blood pressure, but their hypertension remained uncontrolled.
The results were startling; the group receiving the highest dose of Baxdrostat showed a 20-point drop in their blood pressure levels, significantly outperforming the placebo group.
How Does Baxdrostat Work?
The drug works by suppressing the production of aldosterone, a hormone that regulates salt levels in the body.
In doing so, Baxdrostat not only brought down blood pressure levels but also solved the puzzle of separating the enzyme responsible for aldosterone production from another enzyme that produces the vital hormone cortisol.
Why Is This a Breakthrough?
First in Class: Baxdrostat is the first drug in a new class designed to treat resistant hypertension.
Significant Impact: The drug showed an impressive 20-point drop in systolic blood pressure, a result rarely seen with any single antihypertensive drug.
Addressing the Root Cause: By focusing on aldosterone suppression, Baxdrostat targets one of the key factors causing hypertension in a subset of patients who are resistant to existing therapies.
This new drug could revolutionize the way hypertension is treated, especially in patients who don’t respond to existing treatments.
Considering that one-third of UK adults suffer from high blood pressure, and an estimated 5-10% of them are resistant to current treatments due to excess aldosterone, this drug could potentially benefit more than 500,000 people in the UK alone.
While the results are indeed promising, further research is needed to compare Baxdrostat with existing treatments and to evaluate long-term safety and effectiveness.
However, as Professor Morris Brown from Queen Mary University of London suggests, this new class of drug has predictable effectiveness, particularly in patients whose excess aldosterone levels make them resistant to older treatments.
Conclusion
High blood pressure is a leading cause of strokes, heart attacks, and kidney failures. The advent of Baxdrostat offers a glimmer of hope to those struggling with resistant forms of this prevalent condition.
While more research is needed, the initial results offer a promising avenue for improving hypertension treatment and patient outcomes.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies that new study challenges blood pressure guidelines: focus on the upper blood pressure number and findings of Popular blood pressure pill could cause problems.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about 5 medicines to treat high blood pressure, and results showing diets high in flavonoids could help reduce stroke risk.
The research findings can be found in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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