Telmisartan

Telmisartan is a nonpeptide angiotensin II receptor antagonist which select ively and insurmountably inhibits the angiotensin II AT(1) receptor subtype without affecting other receptor systems involved in cardiovascular regula tion. Oral telmisartan dose-dependently reduced blood pressure (BP) in various an imal models of hypertension, In transgenic rats, telmisartan reduced cardia c hypertrophy and glomerulosclerosis. When administered at dosages of 40 to 160 mg once daily to patients with mi ld to moderate hypertension, telmisartan significantly reduced systolic and diastolic BP compared with placebo and was at least as effective as atenol ol 50 or 100 mg and lisinopril 10 to 40 mg. One study showed telmisartan SU mg/day to be more effective than enalapril 20 mg/day. In 2 studies that used ambulatory BP monitoring, once daily telmisartan pro vided better control of diastolic BP for the full dosing interval than losa rtan potassium 50 mg or amlodipine 5 or 10 mg, In a single study in patients with severe hypertension, a telmisartan-based regimen had antihypertensive efficacy similar to that of an enalapril-base d regimen. Telmisartan had a tolerability profile similar to that of placebo in clinic al studies.