AVE7688 in Patients With Mild to Moderate Blood Pressure

This study is a prospective multi-center, randomized, double-blind, active-controlled parallel-group, dose ranging study with 5 treatment groups (AVE7688 at 4 different dosages, and losartan-potassium 100 mg). There will be 3 study phases: placebo lead-in, treatment, and follow-up. During the placebo lead-in phase (duration 3 to 4 weeks), patients will discontinue concomitant treatment with any antihypertensive or vasodilating agents and will receive single-blind placebo until randomization. Patients who meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria will be randomized to receive once-daily oral doses of either 2.5, 10, 35 or 50 mg AVE7688, or 100 mg losartan-potassium. The treatment phase will consist of two parts: an efficacy evaluation period, with a 2 week titration period (from randomization to week 2, visit T1 to visit T3) up to 12 weeks, followed by a long-term safety evaluation period until the end of week 52. Antihypertensive treatment such as diuretics, beta blockers or calcium channel blockers can be introduced or re-introduced if indicated during the long term safety evaluation period but angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE-I) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) are not permitted. An additional visit (visit F1) will occur two weeks after the last dose of study medication.