The super common condition we can’t properly treat

It affects one in three Aussies and has deadly complications — but is there a problem with current treatments for high blood pressure?

High blood pressure affects one in three Australians, and can cause life-threatening organ damage.

Life-threatening organ damage linked to high blood pressure could be tackled by a simple new drug invented in Melbourne.

If successful, it could help prevent some of our biggest killers including heart attack and benefit countless Aussies.

High blood pressure affects a third of all Australians.

Unlike current medications that aim to treat the symptoms, this new drug, called compound17b, targets the underlying cause of high blood pressure.

The study, published in Cardiovascular Research, found the drug normalised the structure and function of the hearts and blood vessels of mice.

Monash University researcher Chengxue Helena Qin said she believed the ­results would be replicated in humans, meaning our heart, kidney and blood vessels could be protected from the damage caused by hypertension.

“It causes heart attack, stroke,” she said. “It’s actually the No.1 modifiable risk factor for many cardiovascular ­diseases.”

High blood pressure is linked to many complications.

Dr Qin said blood pressure became elevated when ­inflammation scarred the blood vessels, causing them to harden.

“High blood pressure is ­really a problem of our blood vessels, the water pipe of our whole body,” she said.

“If it becomes harder, the pressure actually increases.

“The current therapies ­release the pressure, release the blood, but it doesn’t make the pipe better or softer.

“So if we could control the inflammation … then we can soften the blood vessel and reduce blood pressure, and stop the disease progression.

“Then we all become healthier and live longer.”

Melbourne’s Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute has been working alongside ­Monash University to develop the new drug for more than 10 years.

The institute’s Professor Geoff Head said the drug worked by targeting key proteins, which acted like “bodyguards that control inflammation”.

“As a team it’s exciting to report that compound17b … could be a promising way to prevent and treat the damage high blood pressure does to our organs in the long run,” he said.

Dr Qin said the study showed the drug not only protected organs from the dangers of high blood pressure, but was also able to reverse some of the damage that had already been done.

“Combining compound17b with existing treatments could provide even better results,” she said.

Co-first author and PhD candidate Jaideep Singh said the study showed the drug could help normalise mice’s hearts and blood vessels, and there was a “clear correlation” with treating high blood pressure in humans.

Previous studies had already found the drug could protect against heart attacks.

Dr Qin said human studies were needed and this was still “a quite early stage”, but she was hopeful and thanked the National Heart Foundation for its support.

“Drug discovery and development … does take a while, but when a new drug gets on the market, it can be life-changing,” she said.

“As a pharmacologist, we really want to have a drug that can change a patient’s life.

“And we think what we’re working on could possibly achieve this goal.”