Conditions: Hypertension
Keywords: Hypertension, aliskiren, valsartan, HCTZ, blood pressure
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 601
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
Assessment of the long-term safety and tolerability of the combination of aliskiren and valsartan (300 mg/ 320 mg) in patients with high blood pressure,followed by assessment of long-term safety and tolerability of the combination of aliskiren/valsartan/Hydrochlorothiazide(HCTZ).

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: Oral pills of aliskiren 150 mg /valsartan 160 mg in combination for 2-weeks. The aliskiren 300 mg /valsartan 320 mg in combination for 52-weeks, optional addition of Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) 12.5 mg starting from Week 10 if the blood pressure was uncontrolled (mean sitting Systolic Blood Pressure ≥ 140 and/or mean sitting Diastolic Blood Pressure ≥ 90 mmHg). The dose of Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) 12.5 mg could be increased to 25 mg if blood pressure remained uncontrolled. arm 2: For patients entering into extension, those previously treated with Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) 12.5 or 25 mg in addition to aliskiren 300 mg/valsartan 320 mg were treated with aliskiren 300 mg/valsartan 320 mg/HCTZ 25 mg in the extension. Those patients who had not received HCTZ during the core study were treated with aliskiren 300 mg/valsartan 320 mg/HCTZ 12.5 mg.

The HCTZ 12.5 mg dose could be increased to HCTZ 25 mg if the mean sitting Systolic Blood Pressure (msSBP) was ≥140 mmHg and/or the mean sitting Diastolic Blood Pressure (msDBP) was ≥90 mmHg for 2 consecutive visits.

Interventions: intervention 1: Aliskiren intervention 2: Valsartan intervention 3: Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ)
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Aliskiren 300 mg intervention 2: Valsartan 320 mg intervention 3: Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) 12.5-25 mg

Protocol document: