Antihypertensive effects of bisoprolol during once daily administration in patients with essential hypertension. A dose-ranging study with parallel groups.

Bisoprolol is a new beta 1-selective beta-blocking agent with a plasma half-time of 10-12 h and without partial agonist properties. Forty-eight patients with essential hypertension were randomly treated with 5, 10, or 20 mg bisoprolol given once daily for 8 weeks. All measurements were made 24 hours after the last dose. Bisoprolol had antihypertensive and beta-blocking properties both at rest and during exercise. The 20 mg dosage regimen was more effective than that of 5 mg and 10 mg. The drug was well tolerated and all the 48 patients completed the trial.