Inpharma 1281 - 31 Mar 2001

Candesartan cilexetil and enalaprilsimilar in essential hypertensionCandesartan cilexetil and enalapril have similar

antihypertensive efficacy in patients with mild-to-moderate essential hypertension, say researchers fromthe Italian Candesartan Study Group. However, theynote that candesartan cilexetil was better tolerated thanenalapril.

In this multicentre study, 205 such patients wererandomised to receive oral candesartan cilexetil 4–8mg/day (n = 80), enalapril 10–20 mg/day (81), orplacebo, for 8 weeks.

Comparable response ratesAmong 178 evaluable patients after 8 weeks’

treatment, per-protocol analysis revealed significantlygreater reductions in seated BP for candesartan cilexetiland enalapril, compared with placebo, recipients; thebetween-group difference was not significant forcandesartan cilexetil and enalapril recipients. Also,significantly higher proportions of candesartan cilexetiland enalapril, compared with placebo, recipients wereclassified as responders (60 and 63 vs 36% of patients)or had normalised BP (61 and 63 vs 39% of patients).*

A higher proportion of enalapril recipients, comparedwith candesartan cilexetil and placebo recipients,reported ≥ 1 adverse event (24 vs 11 and 16% ofpatients). Moreover, 26, 15 and 8 adverse events werereported in the enalapril-, candesartan cilexetil- andplacebo-treated groups, respectively.* Responders were defined as patients who achieved a reduction frombaseline in diastolic BP of ≥ 10mm Hg and normalised BP was definedas a diastolic BP of ≤ 90mm Hg.

Zanchetti A, et al. Comparison of candesartan versus enalapril in essentialhypertension. American Journal of Hypertension 14: 129-134, Feb2001 800798294

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