Clinical advantages of nebivolol in the treatment of hypertension / 中国药房

β-blocker is one of the commonly used anti-hypertensive drugs， and there are obvious differences in the selection of this class of drugs. Nebivolol is a third-generation β-blocker with a unique mechanism of action. This article summarizes the clinical application of nebivolol in anti-hypertensive treatment in recent years， and it is found that compared with other β-blockers， nebivolol has certain clinical treatment advantages. In addition to having a significant antihypertensive effect， it also has little impact on sexual function and heart rate of patients， and does not affect the blood glucose and lipid metabolism， so the drug is more suitable for some special groups of patients， including sexually active male hypertensive patients， hypertensive patients with complications such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome.

Perfil comparativo do custo do tratamento entre pró-fármacos e os seus fármacos precursores / Comparative profile of the cost of treatment withdrugs and their prodrugs

A latenciação é uma importante ferramenta no processo de desenvolvimento de fármacos, pois através dela, diversas barreiras biológicas que limitam o uso de um agente terapêutico podem ser superadas. Assim, esta estratégia permite a reintrodução de substâncias anteriormente descartadas por suas propriedades indesejáveis e o aprimoramento de novos fármacos, antes mesmo que sejam lançados na terapêutica. Embora a latenciação apresente vantagens clínicas, não existem estudos demonstrando a vantagem econômica do uso de pró-fármacos em relação às substâncias precursoras. Dessa forma, o objetivo do presente trabalho foi elaborar um perfil comparativo do custo do tratamento entre pró-fármacos e seus respectivos fármacos precursores, disponíveis no mercado farmacêutico brasileiro, visando demonstrar a real importância da latenciação como ferramenta norteadora para o desenvolvimento de fármacos e, principalmente, a viabilidade financeira do uso de pró-fármacos. Constatou-se que seis do total de pró-fármacos analisados apresentaram-se financeiramente mais vantajosos que os seus precursores e, mesmo para os pró-fármacos que tiveram custo mais elevado, a vantagem clínica alcançada justifica sua utilização.

Prodrug design is an important tool in the drug discovery process, since many biological barriers that limit the use of a drug may be overcome by a prodrug precursor. This strategy allows the improvement of new drugs before they are marketed and also enables the reintroduction of substances previously discarded for their undesirable properties. Although clinical advantages of prodrug design are well-established, there are no studies demonstrating the economic benefits of using prodrugs rather than the intended drugs. The aim of this study was to elaborate a technical report on the relative cost of treatments carried out with prodrugs or with the related drugs. This study was intended to demonstrate the real importance of prodrug design as a guiding tool for drug development and the financial viability of the use of prodrugs. It was found that six of the analyzed prodrugs were financially advantageous compared to the actual drugs and that, even for the prodrugs that had a higher cost, the clinical advantage justified their therapeutic use.