Oxprenolol, a beta-blocker, is an effective antihypertensive when administered 3 or 4 times daily. We evaluated the antihypertensive effect of oxprenololgiven twice daily (bid). The subjects were 15 ambulatory men whose standing diastolic blood pressure (BP) was at least 100 mm Hg after 3 wk of treatment with hydrochlorothiazide and oxprenolol placebo. Oxprenolol 40 mg twice daily was then substituted for the placebo. On subsequent weekly vists oxprenolol was titrated to 80 and 160 mg bid if the standing diastolic BP was greater than 90 mm Hg. BLood pressures on the last visit on placebo were compared to those on the last visit on oxprenolol. Standing BP declined from 145 +/- 4/108 +/- 1 to 130 +/- 4/98 +/- 4 on a mean dose of 256 mg of oxprenolol (p less than 0.001 syst.; p less than 0.01 diast.). Recumbent BP fell from 146 +/- 4/107 +/- 1 to 138 +/- 5/93 +/- 2 (p less than 0.06 syst.; p less than 0.01 diast.). During the final week, 13 of the 15 patients were admitted to the hospital for 24-hr monitoring of BP. The 24-hr BP readings showed a mean coefficient of variation of 6.6% recumbent and 7.2% standing. we conclude that bid oxprenolol will maintain 24 hr BP control in most patients.