Today, essential hypertension is considered to be genetically closely related to disordered peripheral glucose metabolism, and this situation is described by the term metabolic syndrome. Both diseases--hypertension and type II diabetes--submit the heart and arterial vessels to an unphysiological, chronic stress, which they can compensate only for a certain time. Today, when antihypertensive treatment is indicated, drugs capable of preventing late vascular injury while at the same time having the potency to reverse already existing organic changes, are employed. ACE-inhibitors are presently considered to be the most potent substances that are capable of exerting a positive effect on hypertension-associated changes, while not increasing the individual risk profile in the development of arteriosclerosis. The present paper discusses the new ACE-inhibitor, cilazapril, which can be administered in a practical single dose and develops a profile of action typical of ACE-inhibitors in hypertensives with and without an accompanying metabolic syndrome.