An evaluation of the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of nicardipine combined with enalapril in essential hypertension.

Recent observations suggest that calcium antagonists may enhance the antihypertensive effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. Twelve essential hypertensives who had blood pressures greater than 160/90 after a minimum of 6 weeks of monotherapy with the ACE inhibitor enalapril 20 mg daily received additional treatment with nicardipine 30 mg t.i.d. and placebo, each for 2 weeks, in a double-blind crossover study. The combination of nicardipine with enalapril was well tolerated. The addition of the first dose of nicardipine was associated with significant reductions (p less than 0.05) in blood pressure during the first 4 h: from a baseline of 165/99 to 128/80 (supine) at 2 h after nicardipine as compared with 167/101-146/90 following placebo. Two weeks of combined treatment with nicardipine and enalapril significantly reduced the predosing blood pressure, 12 h after the last dose of nicardipine (158/96 as compared with 172/106 with placebo), and there were further significant reductions in blood pressure during the subsequent dosage interval. The profile of plasma ACE inhibition and the pharmacokinetics of enalaprilat were unaffected by the addition of nicardipine. These results suggest that nicardipine and enalapril are an effective and well-tolerated antihypertensive combination.