[Development trends for antihypertensive drug]

Hypertension is recognized as a significant risk factor for cardiovascular complications and associated with mortality. Many antihypertensive drugs have been developed in last decades and several placebo-controlled trials have demonstrated that lowering blood pressure with drug treatment reduces the incidence of cardiovascular diseases including stroke, coronary disease and renal injury. However, blood pressure control remains insufficient in many hypertensive patients who are treated with antihypertensive drugs. In addition, several clinical trials failed to demonstrate that different classes of antihypertensive agents vary in their capacity to decrease cardiovascular and renal disease, independent of their ability to lower blood pressure. Thus, further efforts will be needed to develop the new antihypertensive agent in order to prevent cardiovascular disease outcomes or death. This article provides an overview of currently available data on development trends for antihypertensive drug. In particular, we will focus on the new drugs related to the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. We will not discuss novel interventional approaches such as renal denervation, carotid body ablation and arteriovenous fistula placement.