Introducing: The Blood Pressure Vaccine
Reuters reported that A vaccine (AngQb) that targets angiotensin II appears to be safe and effective in reducing blood pressure in patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension, according to results of a phase II study reported in the March 8th issue of The Lancet.
Lifestyle interventions and drug therapy are the mainstays of treatment for hypertension, but both require patient compliance to be effective, Dr. Ola Samuelsson and Dr. Hans Herlitz, from the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Goteborg, Sweden, write in a related editorial. “If vaccination against high blood pressure were safe and effective in the long run, it might solve many problems of non-compliance.”
The current study involved 72 patients with mild-to-moderate high blood pressure who were randomized to receive AngQb, at one of two doses, or placebo at weeks 0, 4, and 12. The main focus was on safety and tolerability, but 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure was assessed prior to treatment and at week 14, note senior author Dr. Martin F. Bachmann, from Cytos Biotechnology AG in Zurich-Schlieren, Switzerland, and colleagues.
Five patients dropped out of the study and were excluded from the efficacy analysis: two of these patients given AngQb 100 micrograms and three given AngQb 300 micrograms.
Two serious adverse events occurred in each of the vaccine groups and one occurred in the placebo group; none were thought to be treatment related.
Most adverse effects were mild, transient injection site reactions. However, three patients in the low-dose AngQb group and four in the high-dose group experienced mild influenza-like symptoms.
Immunization with high-dose, but not low-dose, AngQb was associated with significant reductions in the average daytime blood pressure at week 14 by -9/-4 mm Hg relative to placebo. The high dose also significantly reduced the early morning blood-pressure surge (change at 8 a.m., -25/-13 mm Hg).
While the results are encouraging, the researchers point out that “this exploratory study still had a limited sample size, and the efficacy of AngQb was shown in an otherwise healthy hypertensive population. Later stage clinical trials will be needed to show efficacy and safety in a broader hypertensive population.”
Source: Reuters Health
