A new global hypertension 3-in-1 blood pressure trial will include 500 UK patients – could it be the future of medical aid in that field?
A triple low-dose combination pill that was developed to treat patients with high blood pressure/hypertension will be trialled in the UK.
The pill, known as GMRx2 has been created by George Medicines, a late-stage drug development company. Their drug trial will be run in collaboration with ICTU Global, an academic clinical research organisation at Imperial College London.
Hypertension is responsible for over 50% of all heart attacks and strokes and is a major preventable risk factor for vascular dementia, heart, and kidney disease in the UK, costing the NHS more than £2.1bn every year.
Roughly one in three UK adults have hypertension, of these 50% are not diagnosed or receiving adequate treatment, and of those who are diagnosed and in the process of being treated 80% do not take all of their prescribed medication.
Because different blood pressure medications work in different ways, it has become common practice for patients to take multiple different medications simultaneously.
The World Health Organization, in its most recent guideline for the pharmacological treatment of hypertension in adults, adhering to the 2020 guidelines of the International Society of Hypertension, suggests an initial treatment of combination therapy−preferably with a single-pill−in order to improve adherence and persistence.
It is estimated that 500 patients will be recruited for the trial from hospitals and GP practices in England; they’ll be joining 1,000 patients recruited internationally from countries such as the U.S. and Australia.
The phase 3 trial is the final stage of development for the drug with results expected to support a regulatory filing for approval.
As a single-pill triple combination GMRx2 contains low doses of telmisartan, amlodipine, and indapamide, common hypertension medications, and is the company’s most advanced candidate in late-stage development.
The efficacy and safety of GMRx2 will be tested in the trial and compared with dual combinations of the same components over 12 weeks. It follows the successful studies of a low-dose triple combination which outperformed traditional hypertension treatments without any additional side effects.
“This unique, three-in-one hypertension pill has the potential to substantially increase efficacy and improve adherence to treatment while minimising side effects,” said Stefan König, CEO of George Medicines.
“At George Medicines, we believe affordable, single-pill combinations of existing medicines could help patients to better manage non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.”
“We are delighted to collaborate with Imperial Clinical Trials Unit to expand our research into the UK, where high blood pressure remains a significant silent killer and many patients are still uncontrolled.”
