The sartans are coming!
The 3(rd) International Symposium on Angiotensin II Antagonism was held in London February 28-March 2, 2000, and was accompanied by a number of company-sponsored symposia discussing "sartan" drugs. The advent of these angiotensin II receptor antagonists in the 1990s was welcomed with much enthusiasm owing to their reduced side effect profiles in comparison with members of other classes of antihypertensive drugs. Losartan and valsartan had previously been combined successfully with hydrochlorothiazide. A new sartan combination--candesartan cilexetil + hydrochlorothiazide--was announced during the meeting and new clinical trial data were presented. There are a number of questions that still need answers with respect to the role of the sartans in areas other than hypertension; help in answering at least some of these questions should be provided soon by the results of several megastudies that are currently under way.
Jack
D
D
MWEC, Glasgow, Scotland. 100344.1432@compuserve.com