Stubborn high blood pressure? Scientists say THIS new drug could be a game-changer

Dangerously elevated blood pressure that doesn’t budge, even to currently existing medications, is a growing concern. Around 1.3 billion people are living with high blood pressure (hypertension), and half of the cases, the condition is uncontrolled or treatment resistant, which puts them at greater risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, and early death. A new treatment has shown promise in treating stubborn high blood pressure

According to the results of a Phase III clinical trial led by a UCL Professor, a new treatment has been shown to significantly lower blood pressure. The findings are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.


New treatment for high blood pressure

An international BaxHTN trial, led by Professor Bryan Williams (UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science), evaluated the new drug baxdrostat, which is in tablet form.

The trial involved 800 patients from across 214 clinics worldwide. After 12 weeks of taking the medication (baxdrostat 1 mg or 2 mg once daily in pill form), the researchers noticed that the blood pressure of the participant fell by around 9-10 mmHg compared to placebo. This dip, according to the researchers, is large enough to cut cardiovascular risk. They also found that about 4 in 10 patients reached healthy blood pressure levels, compared with fewer than 2 in 10 on placebo.

“Achieving a nearly 10 mmHg reduction in systolic blood pressure with baxdrostat in the BaxHTN Phase III trial is exciting, as this level of reduction is linked to substantially lower risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and kidney disease,” Principal Investigator, Professor Williams, said in a statement.

How the drug works

Blood pressure is strongly influenced by a hormone called aldosterone, which helps the kidneys regulate salt and water balance. Some people produce excess aldosterone, which leads to the body holding onto salt and water. As a result of aldosterone dysregulation, blood pressure goes up and makes it very difficult to control.

The researchers aimed to address this aldosterone dysregulation. Baxdrostat works by blocking aldosterone production, directly addressing this driver of high blood pressure (hypertension).

“These findings are an important advance in treatment and in our understanding of the cause of difficult-to-control blood pressure. Around half of people treated for hypertension do not have it controlled; however, this is a conservative estimate and the number is likely higher, especially as the target blood pressure we try to reach is now much lower than it was previously,” Professor Williams, Chair of Medicine at UCL, said.

“In patients with uncontrolled or resistant hypertension, the addition of baxdrostat 1mg or 2mg once daily to background antihypertensive therapy led to clinically meaningful reductions in systolic blood pressure, which persisted up to 32 weeks with no unanticipated safety findings. This suggests that aldosterone is playing an important role in causing difficult-to-control blood pressure in millions of patients and offers hope for more effective treatment in the future,” Professor Williams added.

“The results suggest that this drug could potentially help up to half a billion people globally – and as many as 10 million people in the UK alone, especially at the new target level for optimal blood pressure control,” Professor Williams said.