New Data Confirm Superior Blood Pressure Reductions in Diabetic Patients Treated with TWYNSTA® Compared to Amlodipine Alone

INGELHEIM, Germany - Friday, June 17th 2011 [ME NewsWire]

Results show that in hypertensive patients with diabetes, who are at added risk of cardiovascular (CV) events, TWYNSTA®, the single pill combination of the angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) telmisartan and the calcium channel blocker (CCB) amlodipine, compared to amlodipine alone:

delivers superior blood pressure (BP) reductions needed to get these added risk patients to BP goal1
demonstrates greater blood pressure reduction for a full 24-hrs, with a higher proportion of patients reaching their target blood pressure1
provides a prompt onset of action, with superior blood pressure reductions already seen after one week of treatment1

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- For NON-US and NON-UK Healthcare Media Only

New data show that TWYNSTA® , a once daily, single pill combination of the angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) telmisartan and the calcium channel blocker (CCB) amlodipine, leads to prompt and very effective reductions in blood pressure in hypertensive patients with diabetes. The results from the TEAMSTA Diabetes study, presented at the 21st Annual Scientific Meeting of the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) in Milan, are further confirmation that TWYNSTA® provides a significantly greater reduction in blood pressure compared to amlodipine alone in hypertensive patients who are at added risk of serious CV events and are often more difficult to treat.1

“Hypertension is extremely common in people with diabetes and these patients are at a much greater risk of serious cardiovascular events such as a stroke or heart attack” said the lead author of TEAMSTA Diabetes, Dr. Arya M. Sharma, Professor of Medicine and Chair in Obesity Research and Management at the University of Alberta, Canada.“The results of this study show that for these patients, TWYNSTA® significantly lowers blood pressure and helps them better achieve their blood pressure goals over 24-hours. In addition, the single-pill combination of telmisartan and amlodipine may also reduce the pill burden for patients that usually have to take multiple treatments due to co-morbidities such as type-2 diabetes.”

TWYNSTA® is a combination of the longest acting agents in each class and the study results highlight that more than 71% of diabetes patients with hypertension (baseline BP 161/91mmHg) treated with TWYNSTA® achieved the study-defined blood pressure goal (<140/90 mmHg) and over 50% of patients achieved their 24-hr blood pressure goal (<130/80 mmHg) as measured by ABPM, compared to 54% and 39%, respectively, of patients on amlodipine monotherapy.1 Similar results were seen in obese patients (BMI≥30 kg/m2), which formed the largest subpopulation (approximately 57%) in TEAMSTA Diabetes.2 Numerous studies have shown that less than 40% of hypertensive patients achieve target BP with monotherapy.3 This figure is even lower in patients with comorbid obesity or diabetes.3

The TEAMSTA data confirm results from a previous sub-analysis of the factorial design study where 87% of the diabetes and 81% of the obese patients treated with TWYNSTA® achieved the study-defined BP goal of <140/90 mmHg.4,5,6 Results from the TEAMSTA Diabetes study further add to previous TWYNSTA® data showing consistent BP reductions across all hypertension severities (mild to severe). In patients with severe hypertension7 the systolic BP reductions were up to 50 mmHg. These data demonstrate the effectiveness of TWYNSTA® in patients at additional risk for CV events who often find their BP targets difficult to achieve.

Research shows that in patients with hypertension, TWYNSTA® provides up to 80% of the maximum BP reduction within two weeks after the initiation of treatment, showing prompt onset of action and effective BP lowering.7

Study Results Results showed that combination treatment with telmisartan 80mg and amlodipine 10mg vs amlodipine monotherapy provides:1

significantly greater mean systolic BP reductions at 8 weeks (-29 mmHg vs -22.9 mmHg; p<0.0001)
significantly greater mean systolic BP reductions already at week 1 (-17.5 mmHg vs -12.6 mmHg; p<0.0001) and maintained throughout the study
consistently higher office BP (<140/90 mmHg) and systolic BP (<140 mmHg) goal rates of 71.4% and 73.2% vs 53.8% and 56.8%, respectively
greater 24-hr ambulatory BP reductions (ABPM) (SBP:-16.5 mmHg vs -11.1 mmHg; p=0.0044) and consistently higher 24-hr BP goal rates (<130/80 mmHg; 52.9% vs 39.1%)
a safe and well tolerated treatment option with fewer treatment-related adverse events and treatment discontinuations

Professor Klaus Dugi, Corporate Senior Vice President Medicine, Boehringer Ingelheim, commented: “TWYNSTA® combines the robust evidence base with regard to cardiovascular outcomes of telmisartan and amlodipine. These latest findings further support previous TWYNSTA® data that show that this single-pill combination is a valuable treatment option for hypertensive patients, especially those with co-morbidities such as diabetes or obesity.”

TWYNSTA® contains telmisartan, the only ARB with a broad indication for CV prevention independent of blood pressure.8

TWYNSTA® was recently approved by the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of hypertension in adults whose blood pressure is not adequately controlled on amlodipine or as replacement therapy in adult patients receiving telmisartan and amlodipine from separate tablets containing the same component doses. TWYNSTA® is also approved in the US and Japan.

~ENDS~

Please click on the link below for ‘Notes to Editors’ and ‘References’:

http://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/news/news_releases/press_releases/2011/17_june_2011_telmisartan.html

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