This is a clinical study evaluating the superiority in efficacy and assess safety and tolerability of BAYA1040_Nifedipine 80 mg/day (40 mg twice daily) compared with BAYA1040_Nifedipine 40 mg/day (40 mg once daily) in patients with essential hypertension who are not at target blood pressure by BAYA1040_Nifedipine 40 mg once daily treatment.

Inclusion Criteria:

• 20 years or older
• Japanese male or female
• Outpatient with essential hypertension
• Patients whose sitting diastolic blood pressure (DBP) is 90 mmHg or more despite more than 4 weeks of treatment with antihypertensive drug

Exclusion Criteria:

• Sitting diastolic blood pressure (DBP) is 110 mmHg or more or sitting systolic blood pressure (SBP) is 180 mmHg or more
• Patients with secondary hypertension or hypertensive emergency