OBJECTIVES: To evaluate direct costs associated with the use of valsartan/amlodipine single pill combination (SPC) therapy versus angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) plus calcium channel blocker (CCB) free combination (FC) therapy in hypertensive patients.  METHODS: Administrative claims data from the HealthCore Integrated Research Database (HIRDTM) were used to identify patients with ≥1 hypertension claim (ICD-9 codes 401.xx-404.xx) and ≥1 fill for valsartan/amlodipine SPC or ARB/CCB FC during the intake period 7/1/2007 – 9/30/2008. Only patients with ≥6 months pre- and post-index health plan eligibility were selected. Total healthcare costs, medical costs and pharmacy costs were aggregated over the follow-up period and annualized. Generalized linear models were used to control for baseline differences between the SPC and FC therapy groups and to compare annualized total costs, medical costs and pharmacy costs between SPC and FC groups, respectively. RESULTS: A total of 1,226 patients were identified in the SPC group and 280 patients in the FC group. After controlling for baseline differences, the SPC cohort ($6,402) had significantly lower total healthcare costs compared with patients in the FC cohort ($7,758), p=0.0096. Similarly, the SPC group had lower medical costs ($4,408 vs. $5,517, p=0.0373) and lower annual pharmacy costs ($1,864 vs. $2,074, p=0.0417) compared to FC patients.   CONCLUSIONS: Annual total costs were $1,356 lower for patients taking valsartan/amlodipine single pill combination therapy as compared to patients taking ARB/CCB free combination therapy, suggesting that treatment of hypertensive patients with valsartan/amlodipine single pill combination therapy may result in cost savings compared to ARB/CCB free combination therapy.