Novartis touts Rasilez as ‘first in class’ blood pressure drug

Novartis has said its new treatment for blood pressure, Rasilez (aliskiren), is the first of a new class of blood pressure drugs available in more than ten years.

Presenting new data at the 15th annual World Congress of Cardiology in Barcelona, Novartis said Rasilez demonstrated the power of the new direct renin inhibitors in a clinical trial of patients using the drug over the course of a year.

Researchers found that Rasilez was able to provide sustained blood pressure control over the course of 24 hours, which Novartis claims is something many other blood pressure drugs are unable to do.

Additionally, Rasilez patients were able to avoid “rebound” blood pressure when the treatment was stopped. Patients who switched from Rasilez to the placebo saw their blood pressure climb “only gradually” without a fast rebound back to their original blood pressure levels.

Dr Domenic Sica, professor of medicine and pharmacology at the Medical College of Virginia Commonwealth University, remarked: “Normally we’d expect blood pressure to quickly return to pre-treatment levels when a medicine is stopped.”

“However, our study showed that this does not occur with aliskiren. This may be a benefit of directly inhibiting renin to control blood pressure,” he added.

Novartis said it expects to submit Rasilez before the European regulatory authorities by the end of 2006.

In May, Reuters speculated that Rasilez could earn annual sales of $1 billion by 2011.

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