Efficacy and safety evaluation of lacidipine compared with amlodipine in mild-to-moderate hypertensive patients.

Hypertension is well recognized to be an important cardiovascular risk factor and antihypertensive therapy has been shown to decrease cardiovascular mortality and morbidity as blood pressure control is achieved. At present, management of hypertension is obtained with effective compounds that exhibit a satisfactory safety profile. Among the antihypertensive drugs, calcium antagonists have been proven to possess this property. In the present study, our objective was to compare the antihypertensive effect of two new long-acting dihydropyridines, lacidipine and amlodipine, as once-daily monotherapies in mild-to-moderate hypertensive patients. Eighty hypertensive patients were recruited and after a 3-week washout period were randomized to receive lacidipine 4 mg once daily or amlodipine 10 mg once daily. After 4 weeks, hydrochlorothiazide 12.5 mg was added in patients not adequately controlled, and patients were treated for a total of 8 weeks. At this time, supine mean diastolic blood pressure decrease was 16 mm Hg in the lacidipine group and 10 mm Hg in the amlodipine group (p < = 0.01). Adverse events were reported in 28% of patients treated with lacidipine and in 48% of patients receiving amlodipine. Results of our pilot clinical experience show that lacidipine is a well-tolerated and effective compound, compared with amlodipine, in mild-to-moderate hypertensive patients.