Hypertension Drug Aliskiren Approved

Aliskiren, the first direct renin inhibitor, was approved by the FDA yesterday. The drug will be marketed by Novartis under the trade name Tekturna.

(WSJ) Tekturna is the first in a new class of blood-pressure lowering medicines, called renin inhibitors. It acts within the renin system, which is central to blood-pressure regulation. Renin is an enzyme that controls the formation of a hormone called angiotensin II, the key mediator in the regulation of body-fluid volume and blood pressure.

Minor physiologic correction to the WSJ quote above: renin cleaves the inactive peptid angiotensinogen into Angiotensin I, which is then converted in the lung to Angiotensin II by angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE). As such, the new drug acts to control hypertension earlier in the development of the metabolically active compound, Angiotensin II.

-Wes