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news.Boehringer Ingelheim has reported that results of the landmark Ontarget trial have proved that the company's Micardis is as protective as ramipril, in reducing the risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, and hospitalisation for congestive heart failure, in a broad cross-section of high-risk cardiovascular patients and with better tolerability.
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These cardiovascular events occurred in 16.66% of patients receiving Micardis (telmisartan) versus 16.46% of patients receiving ramipril. The relative risk (ratio of the probability of the event occurring in the telmisartan group versus the ramipril group) was 1.01, with a 95% CI of 0.94 -1.09. The Ontarget data also show that telmisartan is associated with a higher treatment compliance.
In this trial the benefits of telmisartan were demonstrated in a large group (8,542) of high-risk patients who were already receiving standard care such as statins to lower cholesterol, antiplatelet therapy, beta blockers and other antihypertensives. Telmisartan treatment led to fewer discontinuations than treatment with ramipril, a widely used angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE) inhibitor. Although patients with an ACE inhibitor intolerance had been excluded from the trial, 360 (4.2%) patients in the ramipril treatment arm stopped their treatment because they experienced cough, a common ACE inhibitor side effect, versus only 93 (1.1%) patients in the telmisartan arm.
Salim Yusuf, lead investigator of the Ontarget program, said: “The Ontarget trial shows that telmisartan is a well-tolerated treatment in high-risk cardiovascular patients that is as effective as ramipril in preventing heart attacks, stroke and hospitalizations for heart failure and deaths. The Ontarget results have important implications for the management of patients with cardiovascular diseases.”