| Angiotensin
II antagonists
Of the new angiotensin II antagonists, GlaxoSmithKline's
Teveten (eprosartan) was launched in Germany in July
1997 and in the USA in October 1999. It has been introduced
in the major European markets and Australia and Puerto
Rico.
Teveten has a reduced incidence of cough compared
with enalapril and is an attractive alternative in
treating patients
with hypertension. Sankyo and Recordati's olmesartan
is in Phase III studies in Japan and is at the pre-registration
stage in Europe and the USA. Sankyo is expected to
file for approval of the drug in Japan in 2002.
New avenues of treatment poised to make their appearance
According to IMS HEALTH's LifeCycle R&Dfocus
service, which monitor drugs in development, new avenues
in the treatment of hypertension are being investigated
for example:
- dual
action compounds such as Bristol-Myers Squibb's
Vanlev (omapatrilat)
- endothelin
antagonists such as Texas Biotechnology/ LG-Chem's
sitaxsentan sodium
- aldosterone
antagonists such as Novartis' eplerenone
- and
CV Therapeutics and Biogen's adenosine A1 antagonist,
CVT 124
Neutral
endopeptidase/ACE inhibitor - dual action compounds
Omapatrilat is an ACE inhibitor and is also highly
effective at inhibiting neutral endopeptidase. It
is therefore able to reduce blood pressure across
a broad range of patients, regardless of age, race
or gender, with minimal side effects.
It is currently in Phase III in Japan and has been
filed for approval in Canada and Europe, whilst an
NDA filed with the US FDA in 1999 was withdrawn in
April 2000 following questions regarding angioedema
side effects. Another dual action molecule from Bristol-Myers
Squibb, BMS-189921, is currently in Phase II trials
in the USA.
Endothelin antagonist
Preliminary findings indicate that fortnightly treatment
with sitaxsentan sodium reduces blood pressure after
one week and sustains this reduction for 14 days in
patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension. This
product is currently in Phase II in the USA and Phase
I in the UK.
Banyu and Merck & Co's J-104132 is an antihypertensive
endothelin antagonist in Phase II in the USA, and
Phase I trials are planned for Japan. BASF and Aventis'
darusentan is an endothelin-A antagonist currently
in Phase II in Germany.
Aldosterone antagonist
Eplerenone is in Phase III trials in Europe and the
USA and Phase I in Japan. Its launch is expected in
2002. It was licensed to Pharmacia Corporation from
Novartis.
Adenosine A1 antagonist
CV Therapeutics and Biogen's CVT-124, an adenosine
A1 antagonist with diuretic potential, is currently
in Phase II studies in the USA for the treatment of
hypertension and congestive heart failure.
IMS HEALTH's new Diametrics
service provides an analysis of sales and prescription
data for a disease together with drug and patent data,
giving a comprehensive picture of key diagnoses. Diametrics
is available for a number of diseases, including:
- Congestive
Heart Failure
-
Hyperlipidaemia
-
Hypertension
-
Obesity
-
Stroke
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