Renal and metabolic effects of valsartan.

It is known that the drugs which suppress the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system can prevent target organ damage, independent of their blood pressure lowering effects. Besides, it has been reported that this group of drugs has positive metabolic effects. There are many studies showing that valsartan, being an angiotensin receptor blocker and widely used in hypertension treatment, has cardioprotective and renoprotective effects in high risk patients. It has been seen in these studies that, valsartan treatment has a decreasing effect on proteinuria, independent of its blood pressure lowering effects in the patients having either diabetic and non-diabetic nephropathy. In this review, the studies investigating the renal effects of valsartan will be mentioned. Additionally, the studies about the metabolic effects of valsartan will be reported.