Neutral results in study of Tekturna for Hypertension

The AQUARIUS study shows that Tekturna/Rasilez (aliskiren), from Novartis, neither improves nor slows the progression of coronary atherosclerosis when given to patients who had pre-Hypertension. AQUARIUS was a prospective, randomized, multicenter, double-blind clinical trial of 613 patients in Europe, Australia and North and South America. Among the 458 participants (74.7%) who remained in the study for more than 72 weeks, there were no statistically significant differences in primary or secondary outcomes between those treated with aliskiren or placebo. There were fewer major cardiovascular events (8.5%vs. 16.2%), and non-fatal myocardial infarctions (0.3% vs.2.6%) in the aliskiren group), however, these findings should be interpreted cautiously.

The findings are reported at the European Society of Cardiology Congress with publication in the Journal of the American Medical Association. See: "Effect of Aliskiren on Progression of Coronary Disease in Patients With Prehypertension The AQUARIUS Randomized Clinical Trial" Stephen J. Nicholls et al. JAMA. September 3, 2013. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.277169