The primary objective is to determine whether candesartan, compared to placebo reduces the
progression of diabetic retinopathy in normoalbuminuric type 2 diabetic patients with
retinopathy.
The secondary objective is to determine whether candesartan, compared to placebo, reduces the
incidence of clinically significant macular oedema (CSME) and/or proliferative diabetic
retinopathy (PDR) and beneficially influences the rate change in urinary albumin excretion
rate (UAER).
This study is part of the DIRECT Programme also including a primary prevention study of
diabetic retinopathy in type 1 diabetes and a secondary prevention study in type 1 diabetes.
The primary objective for all three pooled studies is to determine whether candesartan,
compared to placebo, reduces the incidence of microalbuminuria in type 1 and type 2 diabetic
patients.