DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION
The usual recommended starting dose of eprosartan is 600 mg once daily when used as monotherapy in patients who are not volume-depleted (see WARNINGS, Hypotension in Volume-and/or Salt-Depleted Patients). Eprosartan can be administered once or twice daily and total daily doses ranging from 400 mg to 800 mg. There is limited experience with doses beyond 800 mg/day. If the antihypertensive effect measured at trough using once-daily monotherapy dosing is inadequate, a twice-a-day regimen at the same total daily dose or an increase in dose may give a more satisfactory response. Achievement of maximum blood pressure reduction in most patients may take 2 to 3 weeks. Hydrochlorothiazide is effective in doses of 12.5 mg to 50 mg once daily. To minimize dose-independent side effects, it is usually appropriate to begin combination therapy only after a patient has failed to achieve the desired effect with monotherapy. The side effects (see WARNINGS) of eprosartan are generally rare and apparently independent of dose; those of hydrochlorothiazide are a mixture of dose-dependent (primarily hypokalemia) and dose-independent (e.g., pancreatitis) phenomena, the former much more common than the latter. Therapy with any combination of eprosartan and hydrochlorothiazide will be associated with both sets of dose-independent side effects.