The 3rd Annual Pritor®/Kinzal® Stand Alone Symposium, recently took place in Athens, Greece, on 25 October 2008. Its purpose was to demonstrate and discuss the most recent evidence and clinical opinions concerning the successful outcomes of the ONTARGET® Trial Program. Cardiovascular disease is still the number 1 cause of death in first world countries and is predicted to become the leading cause of death in the developing world in the near future. Therefore, the prevention of health deterioration from cardiovascular events is a common treatment goal around the globe.
2008 has been a important year for Pritor®/Kinzal® and cardio & vascular protection in general starting from the first presentation of the results of the landmark ONTARGET® trial in March at the American College of Cardiology Congress, following this the release of PRoFESS™ and the most recent TRANSCEND® results announced at the European Society of Cardiology Congress. In consideration of these major publications, the symposium presented an ideal forum for the data to be collated, reviewed and discussed by leading experts from around the globe.
The symposium welcomed discussions and lectures from these experts, who form part of the ICMA faculty, focusing on the trial’s outcomes and other essential clinical issues surrounding morbi-mortality trials, new evidence and guidelines in clinical practice. Presentations included those of Prof. Henry Elliott and Dr. Alejandro de la Sierra who spoke on the TRANSCEND® and PRoFESS™ results respectively. In addition, Prof. Athanase Benetos presented on the State of the art of RAAS blockers in high-risk patients before 2008. Dr. Roland Asmar raised the question whether evidence only originates from morbi-mortality Trials. Following these interesting presentations, interactive country workshops were held allowing review of the topics discussed in the morning sessions, resulting in exciting debate on current and future therapies due to the new results of the ONTARGET® Trial Program.
All the video interviews from the symposium will be available shortly.
BSP's opening activity, held on the first day of the congress, was a symposium entitled "Hyperglycaemia and hypertension – revisiting the challenges in CVD management". More than 150 delegates attended the symposium, chaired by the diabetologist Ryuzo Kawamori (Japan), and new President of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), Roberto Ferrari (Italy). The presentations discussed some of the challenges in managing pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes, focusing on the benefits of Glucobay (acarbose) and Pritor/Kinzal (telmisartan) for hypertension management and cardiovascular (CV) risk reduction in the cardiometabolic patient..
 (Sep 8) This year’s European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress, Aug 30 – 3 Sep, Munich proved the most successful to date, with over 30,000 attendees. And with the hotline session presentation of the TRANSCEND® results, 2 joint satellite symposia and an interactive stand Pritor®/Kinzal® continued to show its significant role and commitment to hypertension management and CV protection. | |
| |
| The hotline presentation of the TRANSCEND® trial results showed that PRITOR®/KINZALMONO® reduces the risk of CV death, MI and stroke (HOPE primary endpoint) by 13% (p<0.05) in ACE-intolerant, high CV risk patients already on best standard care. Moreover, it was well tolerated and associated with less discontinuations and higher compliance than the comparator arm. The results confirm the protective benefits seen with PRITOR®/KINZALMONO® in the ONTARGET® trial, where PRITOR®/KINZALMONO® was proven to be as effective as the gold-standard ACE-inhibitor ramipril, but better tolerated. | |
 | The first satellite symposia, entitled "New standards in protecting high-risk patients: learnings from the ONTARGET® programme" and presented by Profs Zannard, Unger, Teo, Sleight and Bohme built on this, discussed the ONTARGET® trial results and new evidence on the relationship of blood pressure and outcomes, which question the current "lower is better" formula in high risk patients. |
A second follow-up satellite symposia "Reducing cardiovascular risk and the role of blood pressure: new evidence" with Profs Ferrari, Mancia, Dahlof, de Zeeuw , Dagenais and Sleight, discussed the importance of blood pressure in the management of CV risk and the role of ARBs in renal protection and stroke prevention. As with the congress, a record number of attendees visited the Pritor/Kinzal® island to discuss the product and trial results with Bayer staff and receive reprints and an exclusive copy of ICMA DVD Pack - where members of the ICMA faculty discuss the design, results and potential implications of the ONTARGET® trial programme. The Pritor/Kinzal® island was one part of the overall Cardiovascular Risk Management booth of Bayer Schering Pharma and embedded in its over arching strategy of 'Connecting Cardiovascular Prevention Strategies'.
| |
(Jul 2008) Berlin was the venue of this year’s International Society of Hypertension/European Society of Hypertension (ISH/ESH) joint congress, “Hypertension 2008”, providing an exciting opportunity to welcome physicians to the home of Bayer Schering Pharma (BSP) under the theme of ‘Your destination – our home’. |
|
| Over the course of the congress, Pritor/Kinzal conducted two satellite symposia, a joint press conference with Adalat, and an interactive product exhibition booth, demonstrating our continued commitment to hypertension management. | |
| The telmisartan symposium entitled “Reducing Cardiovascular Risk: New Insights from ONTARGET” had the key ONTARGET investigators – Professors Sleight (UK), Mancia (Italy), Weber (USA), Bakris (USA) and Yusuf (Canada) – discuss the need to go beyond blood pressure goals to manage total cardiovascular risk. Moreover, they presented evidence of the renal and cardioprotective benefits associated with telmisartan’s (Pritor/Kinzal) unique pharmacology. |
|
| The second symposium, entitled “ONTARGET: New Standard in Cardio & Vascular Protection”, focused on the results of the ONTARGET trial. Highlighting that telmisartan (Pritor/Kinzal) was demonstrated to be as effective as ramipril in reducing the risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke and hospitalization for heart failure, with greater tolerability and treatment compliance shown, even in patients selected as ACE tolerant, the panel, facilitated by Professor Mancia (Italy) discussed the implications of the results in clinical practice. | |
|
|
|
In addition, selected local KOLs from different countries were invited to “Meet Bayer Schering Pharma at home”, a unique behind-the-scenes visit with BSP Executives at the Berlin headquarters. Dr. Stefan Schröder, Head of Global Strategic Marketing Cardiovascular Risk Management, opened the event with a warm welcome before Dr. Gunnar Riemann, Member of the Board of Management of Bayer Schering Pharma AG, shared interesting facts about the company. With an overview of BSP’s cardiovascular risk management and cardiology portfolio, Dr. Jean-Philippe Milon, Head of the newly created General Medicine Business Unit, provided insights into the successfully marketed brands Adalat, Aspirin Cardio, Pritor/Kinzal and Glucobay as well as the new blockbuster Xarelto or the development candidate the oral stimulator of soluble Guanylate Cyclase (sGC) and how they complement each other. Professor Unger (Charité – Universitätsmedizin, Berlin) then highlighted Pritor/Kinzal and its proven effects beyond blood pressure control, followed by Professor Mancia (University Milan-Bicocca) who focused on the success story of Adalat. |
| The joint Adalat-Pritor/Kinzal press conference titled “Advancing Cardiovascular Protection” featured leading experts from the field of cardiovascular disease who presented the latest news about research for optimal treatment of hypertension and offered unique insights into cardiovascular disease management to European journalists. Professor Hermann Haller moderated the event and facilitated question and answer sessions with his co-panel members and the attending journalists throughout the press conference. |
|
| Taking into consideration the latest international guidelines concerning the goals of hypertensive therapy, Dr. Peter Meredith evaluated how hypertension affects the progression of cardiovascular disease, and detailed different approaches how greater protection can be achieved. While calcium channel blockers (CCB) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB) offer different pathways and mechanisms to treat hypertension, the CCB nifedipine GITS (Adalat), and the ARB telmisartan (Pritor/Kinzal) each have been proven to offer exemplary blood pressure control in the ACTION and INSIGHT trials, as well as in the PROTECTION study program, respectively. | |
