Does the angiotensin receptor blocker telmisartan prevent morbid atherosclerotic events?

ONTARGET has established the efficacy of the angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) telmisartan to slow disease progression and delay or prevent morbid events in patients with atherosclerosis. Although the study failed to confirm additive efficacy of telmisartan and the angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitor ramipril, caution should be exercised in assuming that the mean response in a clinical trial applies to individual patients who might benefit from combination therapy. Physicians should also recognize that the design of the study, in which full doses of the ACE inhibitor and the ARB were administered, might not replicate clinical practice, where one drug is usually added to the other.