Valsartan

The active ingredient valsartan, belongs to the Sartane family. Valsartan is orally active and belongs to the specific (selective) angiotensin II receptor antagonists (AT1 receptor inhibitors).

Valsartan should be dosed gradually. The daily dose is 40 to a maximum of 320 mg.

Some of the most common side effects of valsartan are:

• upper respiratory infections and flu-like symptoms and gastrointestinal problems. Headache, dizziness and inflammation of the throat, conjunctiva or joints are other side effects of valsartan. In severe cases, unconsciousness or heart failure may occur. Valsartan may also cause depression and sleep disturbances.

More rare are:

• Vertigo
• Cough
• Abdominal pain
• Exhaustion.

Side effects with unknown frequency:

• Decreased hemoglobin
• hematocrit drop
• Neutropenia
• thrombocytopenia
• Hypersensitivity including serum sickness
• Pseudolymphomas (Sawada Yet al. 2010)
• Sprue-like enteropathy (see olmesartan below)

After oral uptake, the active substance reaches peak concentrations in the plasma after 2 - 4 hours. The mean absolute bioavailability is 23 %. In contrast to other sartans such as losartan, the bioavailability of valsartan is rather low at 25 %. valsartan is excreted primarily biliarily with the feces (approx. 83 % of the dose) and renally to approx. 13 %. The half-life of valsartan is 9 hours.