Doctors in the United Arab Emirates will be briefed on the results of one of the world’s largest clinical trials, which studied the effect of two different treatment regimens on 15,245 high blood pressure patients, following the return of a number of the region’s most prominent specialists from a major European conference.
The VALUE study, which compared two blood pressure medication-based regimens – Diovan (valsartan) and amlodipine – focused on patients at high risk for cardiovascular complications, either due to co-existing diseases or risk factors such as diabetes, a history of stroke, or coronary artery disease. VALUE stands for Valsartan Antihypertensive Long-term Use Evaluation.
Physicians returning from the Paris conference expressed confidence that the data will have a major impact on the treatment of patients with high blood pressure in the region.
“Data from the VALUE trial is tremendously valuable to those of us involved in the treatment of patients with high blood pressure, because it highlights the need for earlier and more aggressive blood pressure treatment for patients at high cardiovascular risk,” said Dr. Fahed Kouli, Nephrologist at the American Hospital, Dubai, UAE, who attended the Paris event.
Despite blood pressure differences especially early in the trial in favour of amlodipine- based regimen, there was no statistically significant difference in the primary composite cardiac morbidity and mortality endpoint.
One of the major findings in this trial is that Diovan-based regimen was associated with a greater reduction in new onset of diabetes by 23 percent versus amlodipine-based regimen.
Given the comparatively high incidence of diabetes in the region – with 3.5 million diabetes type II sufferers registered in 2004 – specialists have welcomed the potential long-term implications of the VALUE study.
“Since hypertension regimens studied in previous trials may increase the risk of diabetes, and as amlodipine is known to be neutral on glucose metabolism, this finding in VALUE is especially significant at a time when the prevalence of the condition continues to increase throughout the developed world,” said Stevo Julius, MS, ScD, VALUE lead investigator and Professor, Internal Medicine and Physiology, Frederick G.L. Huetwell Professor of Hypertension, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
“The fact that VALUE demonstrates that Valsartan reduces the development of new onset of diabetes in hypertensive patients with high cardiovascular risk means that doctors in the region now have a solid tool to offer protection against diabetes in this patient population,” added Dr. Kouli.
The VALUE study also highlights the need for earlier and more aggressive treatment of high blood pressure for patients at high-risk, to help protect them from adverse cardiovascular outcomes.
To help disseminate data from the Paris event, members of the delegation will be participating in a number of medical educational events across the United Arab Emirates in the coming weeks.
The decision to hold the first briefing sessions in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia is both a reflection on the importance of the Middle East healthcare sector as a whole, and the seriousness of the growing crisis of high levels of diabetes and hypertension in the region, according to executives in Novartis.
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
