Atacand
An oral daily medication used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure.
How Candesartan works
All drug targets →- Type-1 angiotensin II receptor antagonist AntagonistTarget: AGTR1 angiotensin II receptor type 1✓ In ChEMBL and the Guide to Pharmacology
- COVID-19Phase 3
- Hepatic fibrosisPhase 3
- Aortic stenosisPhase 3
- Aortic valve insufficiencyPhase 3
- Chronic hepatitis C virus infectionPhase 3
- Chronic kidney diseasePhase 3
- Cirrhosis of liverPhase 3
- Congestive heart failurePhase 3
- Diabetic retinopathyPhase 3
- Essential hypertensionPhase 3
Mechanisms and diseases from ChEMBL via the Open Targets Platform (release 26.09), ChEMBL record CHEMBL1016, CC BY-SA 3.0. Targets checked against the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to PHARMACOLOGY (2026.3), ligand 6907, CC BY-SA 4.0. Trial phases are not approvals: approved uses are shown from the regulators' own records where we hold them.
Patient leaflets for Candesartan
The package leaflet is the official guide for patients that comes with every medicine. These links go to the regulators that publish it.
- UKUnited Kingdom: Search MHRA ProductsPatient information leaflets and SmPCs for UK-licensed products.
- USUnited States: Search DailyMedFDA-approved labels, including patient and medication guides.
Leaflets differ between brands and countries; always read the one that comes with your own medicine. This is regulatory information, not medical advice.
Reference identifiers for Candesartan
- ATC code
- C09CA06
- ChEMBL
- CHEMBL1016
- DrugBank
- DB13919
- PubChem CID
- 2541
- CAS number
- 139481-59-7
- FDA UNII
- S8Q36MD2XX
- Wikidata
- Q415970
- Wikipedia
- Candesartan
Codes that identify this medicine in other databases, from Wikidata (CC0), matched by its ChEMBL ID. The ATC code is the WHO classification of what the medicine is used for.
What Atacand is used for
ATACAND is an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) indicated for: • Treatment of hypertension in adults and children 1 to < 17 years of age, to lower blood pressure. Lowering blood pressure reduces the risk of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events, primarily strokes and myocardial infarctions (1.1) . • Treatment of heart failure (NYHA class II-IV); ATACAND reduces cardiovascular death and heart failure hospitalization (1.2) . 1.1 Hypertension ATACAND is indicated for the treatment of hypertension in adults and in children 1 to <17 years of age, to lower blood pressure. Lowering blood pressure reduces the risk of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events, primarily strokes and myocardial infarctions. These benefits have been seen in controlled trials of antihypertensive drugs from a wide variety of pharmacologic classes including the class to which this drug principally belongs. Con…
How it works
12.1 Mechanism of Action Angiotensin II is formed from angiotensin I in a reaction catalyzed by angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE, kininase II). Angiotensin II is the principal pressor agent of the renin-angiotensin system, with effects that include vasoconstriction, stimulation of synthesis and release of aldosterone, cardiac stimulation, and renal reabsorption of sodium. Candesartan blocks the vasoconstrictor and aldosterone-secreting effects of angiotensin II by selectively blocking the binding of angiotensin II to the AT 1 receptor in many tissues, such as vascular smooth muscle and the adrenal gland. Its action is, therefore, independent of the pathways for angiotensin II synthesis. T…
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How this page is built
The facts on this page are pulled directly from official U.S. FDA datasets — they are not written from memory. Each field below names the dataset it came from, so you can check it yourself.
- FDA Drug Label (openFDA) ↗ Indications, mechanism of action and pharmacologic class
- Drugs@FDA ↗ First FDA approval date and the company holding the application
- FDA Drug Shortage Database ↗ Current US supply / shortage status
Plain-English summaries and drug-class explainers are written and reviewed by Sreepriya Prasannan (MSc Digital Transformation of Life Sciences (Innopharma Education / Griffith College); MSc & BSc Botany). Data is retrieved automatically from the sources above and cross-checked with AI-assisted verification (Anthropic's Claude) — brand and generic names are matched against the exact FDA product record so that a combination product or a different formulation cannot be mistaken for the drug on this page. An editor reviews the result before publication. We describe this in full in our editorial standards and corrections policy. The FDA data on this page was last retrieved on 8 Oct 2026. How every register is built: methodology · fixes we have made: corrections log.