ABSTRACT
Guidelines stress the importance of the simultaneous management of multiple cardiovascular risk factors. This can in part be achieved by coadministration of lipid-lowering and antihypertensive treatments. Potential pharmacodynamic interaction between drugs should be investigated as part of developing single-pill combinations. The Respond trial assessed whether combining amlodipine to treat hypertension and atorvastatin to treat dyslipidemia affected the action of either monotherapy. A total of 1660 hypertensive patients with dyslipidemia received 1 of 15 combinations of amlodipine (placebo, 5, or 10 mg) and atorvastatin (placebo, 10, 20, 40, or 80 mg) in a 3 x 5 factorial randomized, placebo-controlled design. At 8 weeks, combination-treated patients experienced dose-related and statistically significant reductions in systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and Framingham risk score. Overall, coadministered atorvastatin and amlodipine was well tolerated and without adverse pharmacodynamic interaction; combination treatment did not affect the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol-lowering efficacy and safety of atorvastatin, or the systolic blood pressure-lowering efficacy and safety of amlodipine.
