Swiss authorities have approved Novartis AG's Rasilez HCT, a single pill combination of two high blood pressure medicines, the drugmaker announced.

Novartis said it expected a European Commission decision on the treatment - which combines its Rasilez drug, known as Tekturna in the U.S., and the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide - in early 2009.

Rasilez/Tekturna, approved in the U.S. in March 2007 and in Europe in August this year had sales for $ 58 million dollars in the first six months of this year.

High blood pressure is estimated to affect nearly one in four adults worldwide, Novartis said, and some 65 percent of patients do not have this condition controlled.