[Angiotensin receptor antagonist for therapy of patients with hypertension]

Nonpeptide angiotensin II type 1-receptor antagonists, AT1 receptor antagonists are newly developed and useful drugs for hypertension and congestive heart failure. In Japan, the efficacy and safety of losartan and candesartan cilexetil in patients with essential hypertension have been evaluated by the double-blind, parallel group-comparison study using enalapril as control drug. Both trials revealed that these drugs showed a hypotensive effect comparable to that of enalapril with a high safety since the adverse drug reaction of cough was recognized in very few patients. Furthermore, a recent randomised trial of losartan versus captopril in patients over 65 with heart failure, evaluation of losartan in the elderly study (ELITE), showed that losartan was associated with a lower mortality than that found with captopril. Further studies will clarify differences in protection of cardiovascular system with a long-term treatment between AT1, receptor antagonists and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors.