Hope for people with untreatable high blood pressure after trial of new drug baxdrostat Science and technology news

Researchers claim to have found a way to fight high blood pressure, which was previously untreatable.

Scientists from Queen Mary University of London and the US pharmaceutical company CinCor have examined whether patients would benefit from taking a drug called baxdrostat.

Those who took a new drug during a clinical trial had significantly lower blood pressure after other traditional drugs had failed.

Baxdrostat works by preventing the body from making aldosterone, a hormone that helps regulate the amount of salt in the body.

“The results of this novel drug are exciting, although more testing is needed before we can make comparisons to existing drugs,” said Professor Morris Brown, co-author and Professor of Endocrine Hypertension at Queen Mary University of London.

“But baxdrostat could potentially bring hope to many people who don’t respond to traditional treatments for high blood pressure.

“The effectiveness of older drugs can vary significantly in individual patients, while a hallmark of this new class is that it is likely to work well in patients whose aldosterone hormone has made them resistant to older treatments.”

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About 248 patients with “treatment-resistant” hypertension were given either a placebo — also known as a placebo — or varying doses of the drug for 12 weeks.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that people who received the highest dose saw their blood pressure drop by an average of 20 points.

The strongest doses were associated with the greatest reductions, but those taking smaller doses also had a drop in blood pressure.