Hypertension afflicts one of every four adult Americans. Two million new patients are diagnosed with hypertension in the U.S. every year. Uncontrolled hypertension leads to premature death and disability caused by stroke, heart attack and kidney failure.
Treatment of hypertension is costly.
In 1994, three drugs used to treat hypertension appeared on the list of the top ten most costly prescription drugs. James F. Graumlich, M.D., was appointed to the DBTS in 1994. He is investigating treatments for hypertension and hyperlipidemia, and developing new models for optimizing therapy and for improving new drug discovery. He is also carrying out an investigation of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of antiepileptic drugs in a genetic model of epilepsy. None of these drugs has been studied in long-term clnical trials in elderly Americans to determine if these drugs truly prevent stroke, heart attack and kidney failure.