In the present brief survey on new developments in the drug treatment of essential hypertension, the following issues are summarized: the treatment of hypertension in diabetics, patients with left ventricular hypertrophy, and the elderly; new antihypertensive drugs, including a hybrid (multifactorial) antihypertensive drug with both calcium and alpha 1-adrenoceptor antagonistic activity, as well as angiotensin II-receptor antagonists; and finally, gene therapy in hypertension.