Almost 1 in 10 patients have high blood pressure that’s resistant to treatment, according to a New England Journal of Medicine editorial.
“The data is going to have a very important impact on patients,” said Ruud Dobber, president of Astra’s biopharmaceuticals business unit. The drugmaker aims to file for regulatory approval by the end of the year, he added.
In Madrid, Astra’s results were presented alongside an earlier-stage study from Roche Holding AG and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. of an experimental blood pressure shot that would only need to be given twice a year. The companies are starting a multi-year trial in 11,000 patients to see whether the sustained treatment will improve outcomes for them, not just lower their cholesterol.
The companies expect the trial to run until 2030.
Both trials are important because high blood pressure is still the top risk factor for death from heart disease, said Isabel Goncalves, a professor of cardiology at Lund University in Sweden, who wasn’t involved in either trial.
Of the Roche shot, Goncalves said that if it proves to save lives in the long-term study, its administration only a few times a year could make it “particularly interesting.”
“This might help some patients to better adhere to their medication as many struggle to take pills every day,” she said. “Whatever the drug, the most important thing is that patients actually take it.”
