Briefs · Frontier Science
Baxfendy Brings the First New Blood-Pressure Mechanism in Decades
Blood pressure finally has a new enemy. It works upstream.
AstraZeneca announced on 18 May that the FDA had approved Baxfendy, or baxdrostat. It is the first aldosterone synthase inhibitor. It is also the first mechanistically new antihypertensive class in decades.
Baxfendy is not a dam, but rather a tap turned off at source. Older drugs block aldosterone after it is made. This one stops the hormone being made at all.
The approval rested on the BaxHTN trial. Patients were already taking two or more blood-pressure drugs. The 2 mg dose cut seated systolic pressure by 15.7 mmHg from baseline, 9.8 mmHg more than placebo. The 1 mg dose managed 8.7 mmHg over placebo.
The need is plain. About 1.4 billion people live with hypertension. In the United States, about 23 million patients remain uncontrolled despite two or more medicines.
Two decades without progress, then a stubborn systolic stalemate is broken at its source.
Read the original at AstraZeneca press release via Drugs.com
Summary in our own words. The original belongs to its publisher.