The ACQUIRE trial

Achievement of goal blood pressure values, particularly in high-risk categories of patients, still remains an unmet goal of the therapeutic approach to hypertension. The same conclusion can be drawn for patient adherence to antihypertensive drugs, which is a variable of major relevance for obtaining optimal blood pressure control in treated hypertensives. The ACQUIRE study has recently evaluated the efficacy and safety profile of either aliskiren monotherapy or aliskiren/hydrochlorothiazide combination treatment in a consistent number of stage 2 hypertensive patients, half of them complicated by obesity. The results show the effectiveness of aliskiren, particularly when combined with hydrochlothiazide, in achieving satisfactory blood pressure control. This is particularly the case for systolic blood pressure values, which have a major detrimental impact on cardiovascular risk profile and on cardiovascular events. The combination drug regimen, which can achieve early blood pressure control, was accompanied by an excellent side-effect and safety profile and thus was associated with a high adherence to treatment. © Informa UK, Ltd.