Olmesartan medoxomil: a guide to its use as monotherapy or in fixed-dose combinations with amlodipine and/or hydrochlorothiazide

Olmesartan medoxomil (OLM)-based antihypertensive treatment is a valuable option in the treatment of patients with mild to severe hypertension, including those with difficult-to-treat disease. Once-daily OLM, as monotherapy or in combination with hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) and/or amlopidine (AML), provides blood pressure (BP) control over the entire 24-h dosing interval, reduces systolic and diastolic BP, enables patients to achieve BP goals and is generally well tolerated. In patients who require treatment with two or more antihypertensives, treatment with fixed-dose combinations (FDC) of OLM (an angiotensin II receptor blocker) + AML (a calcium channel blocker) and/or HCT (a diuretic) is a rational choice, as the drugs have complementary mechanisms of action, and the use of FDCs reduces pill burden, which may improve patient adherence and persistence to treatment, and clinical outcomes. © 2016, Springer International Publishing Switzerland.