Symplmed Pharmaceuticals approved for Prestalia

CINCINNATI and BEND, Ore. — Symplmed Pharmaceuticals on Monday announced that the Food and Drug Administration approved Prestalia (perindopril arginine and amlodipine) tablets to treat hypertension. Prestalia can be used in patients whose blood pressure is not adequately controlled on mono therapy, the company said. The drug may also be used at an initial therapy if a patient is likely to need multiple drugs to achieve blood pressure goals.

“This is a significant milestone for Symplmed and for our development partner Servier as it is the first product from our perindopril pipeline to receive FDA approval,” said Erik Emerson, president and CEO of Symplmed Pharmaceuticals. “With ACE inhibitors and calcium channel blockers being two of the most highly prescribed products for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, we are excited to be able to provide physicians and patients these two therapeutic classes in a single pill combination right from the start of the treatment for hypertension.”

Symplmed said it plans to make the drug available within first-quarter 2015 through its hypertension management program, bpCareConnect. The program caps blood pressure medication costs, provides monitoring services, offers online tracking tools and ships directly to the patient, the company said.