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Clinical Cardiology logoLink to Clinical Cardiology
. 2007 Jul 5;26(Suppl 2):7–11. doi: 10.1002/clc.4960261404

Clinical trial experience around the globe: Focus on calcium‐channel blockers

William B White 1,
PMCID: PMC6654388  PMID: 12622320

Abstract

Although certain classes of drugs appear to possess benefits apart from their blood‐pressure lowering capability, reduction of blood pressure remains the single most important action of antihypertensive therapy. Calcium‐channel blockers (CCBs) have long been recognized as potent agents for hypertension therapy. This is especially true for the prevention of stroke in hypertensive patients as evidenced from the Systolic Hypertension in Europe (Syst‐Eur) and Systolic Hypertension in China (Syst‐China) trials with a long acting dihydropyridine CCB. The same can be said for beta blockers in patients post myocardial infarction. However, most recent clinical trials have underscored the necessity of multiple drug therapy to achieve the goals of blood pressure reduction coupled with outcomes reduction. For example, the many recent large‐scale clinical trials have required an average of three or more agents to achieve goal. Thus, the paradigm for hypertension management has been altered to determine the best treatment regimen rather than the best initial agent. While response rates to individual agents across a wide spectrum of patients vary little, not all drugs are equally suited as companion products. In this article, we discuss the most recent outcome trials with the long acting CCBs alone or in combination with other drugs. The evidence shows that calcium antagonists remain an important part of hypertension management, including in those individuals at risk of cardiac and cerebrovascular events.

Keywords: calcium antagonists, clinical trials, drug safety, outcomes research, cardiovascular events

Full Text

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