Researchers claim they have discovered a way to tackle previously untreatable high blood pressure. Those who took a new drug during a clinical trial were found to have significantly lower blood pressure after other traditional medicines had failed.
Researchers from Queen Mary University of London and colleagues at the US pharmaceutical firm CinCor examined whether patients would benefit from taking a drug called Baxdrostat. Baxdrostat works by preventing the body from making aldosterone – a hormone which helps to regulate the amount of salt in the body.
Some 248 patients with “treatment resistant” high blood pressure were given either a dummy drug – also known as a placebo – or varying doses of the drug for 12 weeks. The study, which has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions conference in the US, found that people who received the highest dose saw their blood pressure reduced by an average of 20 points.
