Achieving quality 24-h blood pressure control with candesartan cilexetil

Epidemiological evidence suggests that optimal blood pressure control requires strategies that lower blood pressure consistently and fully throughout 24 h. In order to maximize compliance, antihypertensive agents also need to be well tolerated and effective when administered at a convenient once-daily dose. The new angiotensin II type 1 (AT(1)) receptor blocker candesartan binds tightly to, and dissociates slowly from, the AT(1)-receptor and thereby provides long-lasting suppression of the renin-angiotensin system. This is likely to explain its pronounced antihypertensive efficacy, which is maintained smoothly over 24 h. The trough-to-peak ratio is a useful measure of the persistence of antihypertensive efficacy at the end of the dosing interval. This ratio was found to be dose to the ideal of 1.0 for candesartan cilexetil, 8 and 16 mg, whereas it was 0.7 for the prototype AT(1)-receptor blocker losartan, 50 mg. The antihypertensive effect of candesartan cilexetil, 16 mg, was also significantly greater than that of losartan, 100 mg, as demonstrated by ambulatory blood pressure measurements 0-36 h after dosing and by clinic measurements 48 h after dosing. By controlling blood pressure well beyond the normal dosing interval, candesartan cilexetil provides cardiovascular protection even in those patients who may occasionally miss doses.