FDA Warns On Combining Aliskiren With ACE Inhibitors, ARBs.

MedPage Today  (4/21, Kaiser) reported that on April 20, the Food and Drug Administration cautioned "against combining the blood pressure medication aliskiren (Tekturna) with ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) in patients with diabetes or renal impairment." The new "warning, which will be accompanied by a label change, is based on results from the terminated ALTITUDE study, which found an increased risk of adverse events in high-risk patients taking the direct renin inhibitor as an add-on to other anti-hypertensive medications." Patients with diabetes "who mix the drugs are at risk of renal impairment, hypotension, and hyperkalemia, the FDA said in a statement."