title: Management of Hypertension With a Fixed-Dose (Single-Pill) Combination of Bisoprolol and Amlodipine.
abstract: Hypertension is currently one of the greatest global health care challenges. Although many effective drugs are available, combinations of 2 or more medications are often required to meet clinical targets. Combination therapy has several advantages over monotherapy: lower doses of each drug can be used to achieve therapeutic goals; lower doses may lead to fewer adverse events, facilitating patient adherence; and using multiple drugs with different modes of action may be more effective in treating multifactorial diseases, including hypertension. Adherence is an important consideration when requiring patients to self-administer multiple medications; as the number of concurrent medications increases, patient adherence tends to decrease. Recent evidence suggests that fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) may be more effective than free-dose combinations, as they provide all necessary medications in a single convenient tablet/single-pill combination. Among combinations of hypertension medications, a β-blocker such as bisoprolol with a calcium channel blocker such as amlodipine is an effective combination therapy for hypertension, with distinct and complimentary modes of action. With advantages over free-dose combinations, the FDC of bisoprolol/amlodipine is thus an effective and convenient treatment for hypertension, allowing more patients to achieve their therapeutic goals, while potentially reducing the burden of hypertension on health care systems.
authors.affiliation: Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Gottwald-Hostalek
authors.affiliation: Department of Hypertension & Heart Center, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ningling
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: KARDIOS Kardiologen in Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barho
authors.affiliation: Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Universitäts-Herzzentrum Freiburg-Bad Krozingen, Bad Krozingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hildemann
mesh_terms: D017311:Amlodipine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017298:Bisoprolol / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004338:Drug Combinations; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010349:Patient Compliance; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D004338:Drug Combinations; D017311:Amlodipine; D017298:Bisoprolol
keywords: amlodipine; bisoprolol; fixed-dose combination therapy; hypertension