Effectiveness, safety and cost of drug substitution in hypertension.

"Competing interests Professor Johnston has received reimbursements, fees and funding from pharmaceutical companies including Abbott, Astellas, AstraZeneca, Baxter, Fujisawa, Genzyme, Novartis, Roche, sanofi-aventis, Sterling Winthrop and Wyeth. Professor Johnston owns shares in Abbott, AstraZeneca, Genzyme, Roche, sanofi-aventis and Wyeth. Dr Stafylas has received honoraria and reimbursements from pharmaceutical companies including Boehringer and Novartis. Professor Stergiou has received reimbursements, fees and research funding from pharmaceutical companies including Abbott, AstraZeneca, Boehringer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Chiezi, GlaxoSmithKline, Lilly, Menarini, Novartis, Pfizer and sanofi-aventis. There is no patent or any intellectual property interests associated with this manuscript. The authors thank Dr Julie Ponting (Anthemis Consulting Ltd) for providing editorial assistance in the preparation of an outline of content following discussions with the authors, and development of subsequent drafts following review and revision by all authors at each stage. Novartis Pharma AG provided financial support for the editorial assistance but had no other involvement. The authors received no financial remuneration and retained full editorial control over the content of the paper."