Idorsia Ltd  announced the publication of "Aprocitentan for Blood Pressure Reduction in Black Patients” in the April edition of Hypertension. The publication reports preplanned analyses of the efficacy, tolerability and safety of aprocitentan – Idorsia’s once-daily, orally active, dual endothelin receptor antagonist – in the subgroup of African American patients enrolled in the Phase 3 PRECISION study in patients with confirmed resistant hypertension. Aprocitentan, when added to a combination of at least three antihypertensive drugs (four in more than 50% of patients), produced clinically meaningful and sustained blood pressure reductions. Aprocitentan also markedly decreased proteinuria in the patients with proteinuria at baseline. As reported by the authors, aprocitentan was safe and well tolerated, even in those Black patients with chronic kidney disease.

Hypertension is the leading modifiable cause of early mortality and cardiovascular disease worldwide, impacting an estimated 1.3 billion people globally. Approximately 10% of these people have uncontrolled BP, despite receiving at least three antihypertensive medications from different classes, at optimal doses. Compared with adults whose hypertension is well controlled, adults with uncontrolled hypertension have much greater risk of heart attack, stroke, end-stage renal disease and death. Black hypertensive individuals frequently present with resistant hypertension and disproportionately increased cardiovascular risk.

The endothelin (ET) pathway has been implicated in the pathogenesis of hypertension and is activated in patients prone to developing resistant hypertension, such as Black or African American patients, patients with obesity or obstructive sleep apnea, and in comorbid conditions frequently associated with resistant hypertension such as diabetes and chronic kidney disease.