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The National Center for Scientific Research (CNIC), together with institutions of the public health system, concluded a clinical trial that demonstrated the effectiveness of Policosanol (known as Ateromixol or PPG) as a potential adjuvant medication to control prehypertension and high-grade hypertension. I in patients with low cardiovascular risk.
The characteristics of the clinical trial and the prospects of this Cuban product, with more than 30 years of use in the country and wide acceptance in international markets, were discussed during the most recent meeting of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the República, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, with scientists and experts linked to health.
Dr. Sarahi Mendoza Castaño, director of Research, Development and Innovation at the CNIC, commented to the press about the details and impacts of the research that evaluated the effects of PPG, a natural medicine from the industrial treatment of sugar cane. therefore 100% Cuban.
The specialist expressed that “it was a multicenter study in several polyclinics in the Havana municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, in Vedado, Rampa, Moncada, 19 de Abril and Mártires del Corynthia, which also involved the Calixto Garcí Hospital and the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. , in addition to the CNIC as promoter of the trial.
“It had a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design and included 400 patients divided into 2 strata, prehypertensive patients and grade I hypertensive patients, which are those classified as low risk.”
These patients were randomized into parallel groups that consumed Policosanol 20 milligrams per day or placebo for 12 weeks. «After that time, a significant decrease in the values of systolic and diastolic blood pressure was observed, what is known as maximum and minimum, in the case of prehypertensives. In the group of patients with grade I hypertension, this decrease appears around the fourth week,” explained the scientist.
Dr. Salvador Tamayo Muñiz, Head of the Department of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases of the Ministry of Public Health, described the value of PPG to control prehypertension and grade I hypertension in patients with low cardiovascular risk as of extraordinary importance and perspective. His assessment is related to the health problem that high blood pressure represents for the Cuban population. The specialist pointed out that any advance in the treatment of chronic diseases is significant.
Vascular damage in our country – he added – is representing around 40% of mortality in the 10 leading causes of death, that is, 4 out of every 10 Cubans are dying today due to vascular damage, which is a matter of great concern. severity and of course, there is high blood pressure having an impact, which unfortunately in the last 15 years has had a deviation towards premature mortality.
According to the national health survey, about 37.3% of the population over 15 years of age is hypertensive, statistics – the specialist considered – with a high gender gap, since in the case of women over 15 years of age, 40.2% are hypertensive and in the case of black skinned women they represent almost 45%.
Health experts pointed out that Policosanol is not an antihypertensive medication, however it helps control hypertension in low-risk patients.
At the end of the meeting, President Díaz-Canel indicated designing the roadmap to continue the development of clinical trials with larger participants, while recommending focusing on increasing the productive capacities of this drug in the face of growing demands, first those of the national market and then with a view to export.
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 to control blood pressure in low-risk patients – Radio Rebelde){kind=link}