Novartis blood pressure treatment approved

Two new treatments designed to help control high blood pressure have been given approval following a series of tests, it has emerged.

Novartis’ Diovan HCT and Exforge are single pill combinations that are aimed at helping patients who are likely to need multiple treatments to control their blood pressure in the future.

The approval of the new drugs by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will mean that patients can now trial Diovan HCT and Exforge as first-line treatments.

Professor of medicine for the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Michigan Healthcare System Dr Kenneth Jamerson stated that the new drug will benefit patients, as a single pill will be able to control their blood pressure effectively as opposed to multiple pill combinations.

“These approvals provide flexibility and confidence to physicians to use well-proven and well-accepted therapies as first-line treatment,” he said,

The news follows results published by the Journal of the American Society of Hypertension that found that Exforge, which combines both valsartan and amlopidine, has twice the success rate of lowering high blood pressure then amlopidine on its own.

Earlier this year, Novartis revealed that its Exforge treatment had been given final approval from the FDA.