Central nervous system effects of moxonidine experimental sustained release formulation in patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension.

The primary aim was to demonstrate that moxonidine, given in an experimental sustained release (SR) formulation, had no clinically relevant central nervous system (CNS) effects after 4 weeks of treatment. A clinically relevant CNS effect was predefined as more than 45 degrees s-1 reduction in saccadic peak velocity (SPV), corresponding to the effects of one night's sleep deprivation.