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Managing cardiovascular and renal risk: the potential of direct renin inhibition

Peter S Sever1, Alan H Gradman, Michel Azizi

  • 1International Centre for Circulatory Health, Imperial College London, UK. p.sever@imperial.ac.uk

Journal of the Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System : JRAAS
|June 9, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Aliskiren, a direct renin inhibitor, effectively lowers blood pressure and shows promise in reducing cardiovascular and renal damage in hypertensive patients. Ongoing trials assess its long-term benefits for major clinical outcomes.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Nephrology
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Hypertension management aims to reduce cardiovascular and renal risks.
  • Aliskiren is the first direct renin inhibitor approved for hypertension.
  • Extensive clinical data show aliskiren's efficacy and tolerability in blood pressure reduction.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the antihypertensive efficacy of aliskiren.
  • To explore aliskiren's potential in managing cardiovascular and renal risk.
  • To summarize findings on aliskiren's effects on organ damage markers and clinical outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • Review of clinical experience in over 14,000 patients.
  • Analysis of results from ALOFT, AVOID, and ALLAY studies.
  • Ongoing assessment of clinical outcomes in the ASPIRE HIGHER program.

Main Results:

  • Aliskiren demonstrates effective blood pressure lowering as monotherapy or in combination.
  • Studies suggest positive effects on cardiovascular and renal damage markers in specific patient groups (type 2 diabetes with nephropathy, heart failure, LVH).

Conclusions:

  • Aliskiren offers a favorable safety and tolerability profile for hypertension treatment.
  • Further results from large-scale outcome trials are anticipated to define its clinical utility in cardio-renal disease management.

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