EFFICACY AND TOLERANCE TRIAL OF A NEW INH IBITOR OF LONG-ACTING ANGIOTENSIN-CONVERTING ENZYME SILAZAPRIL IN HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS - (A REPORT OF PILOT EXPERIENCE)

Silazapril, a new inhibitor of long-acting angiotensin-converting enzy me, was given to 39 hypertensive subjects aged 24-68 with initial dias tolic pressure 95-120 mm Hg. Of them 16 were females and 23 were males . The course of the treatment lasted 8 weeks, the drug being taken dai ly in a single dose 2.5 mg in the morning. Checkups, measurements of a rterial pressure (AP), blood counts, urinalyses were made before the t reatment, on the treatment week 4 and 8. In one patient the drug was d iscontinued 4 weeks after the treatment start because the AP fall to 1 10/63, in 23 patients the dose was raised to 5 mg, the rest continued on 2.5 mg/day. The treatment ended in the systolic pressure decrease b y 14.9% (from 161.0+/-2.9 To 137.8+/-2.8 mm Hg, p<0.0001) and diastoli c pressure fall by 13.5% (from 104.5+/-1.4 to 90.1+/-1.7 mm Hg, p<0.00 5). No side effects causing the drug withdrawal were registered. It is concluded that the drug is effective in essential hypertension stage IIA-IIB as monotherapy.