Patients with high blood pressure taking a mixture of newer drugs may cut their risk of stroke by 25 percent and dangerous heart complications by 15 percent compared with those on older pills, according to a large study released on Tuesday. The advantage is so dramatic that many patients on the older regime of a beta blocker drug and a diuretic should halt their treatment and begin taking the newer combination, which includes Pfizer Inc's drug Norvasc and CV Therapeutics' Aceon, researchers said.
The newer drugs are Norvasc, known generically as amlodipine, a calcium channel blocker and perindopril, an ACE inhibitor, sold by CV Therapeutics and Solvay Pharmaceuticals as Aceon.
They were tested in the study against AstraZeneca's atenolol, a beta blocker that has been off patent for several years, and a diuretic pill.
Beta blockers are mostly off patent and sold generically, and have been standard therapy for high blood pressure, chest pain and heart failure for years.
The study also found "a substantial excess" of new diabetes cases among those in the beta blocker and diuretic group.