Amlodipine in the Era of New Generation Calcium Channel Blockers.

Amlodipine is a classical drug with varied properties extending from control of blood pressure to as an antianginal and anti atherosclerotic agent. Amlodipine is a longer acting dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker, effective for 24 hours BP control and cause no BP variability. It is a powerful, well-tolerated, and safe antihypertensive agents that is widely used either alone or as a key component of combination therapy for hypertension. Its effective BP reduction has shown proven benefits in cardiovascular event reduction that is supported with strong evidences from large randomised controlled trials. Combination therapies of amlodipine with other agents eliciting renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system blockade (angiotensin II receptor blockers or renin inhibitors) have shown effective blood pressure-lowering strategies in CV risk reduction and progression of renal disease. Novel type of calcium channel blockers have been developed which have additional properties of blocking T and N subtypes of calcium channels and apart from their class effects they exerts specific action on heart rate and renin aldosterone system. They are considered to be more renoprotective due to this additional properties. Amlodipine is most potent and longer acting agent compared to the newer CCBs, its effectiveness in BP lowering still makes it the agent of choice among all the CCBs.

A Critical Analysis of Claims and Their Authenticity in Indian Drug Promotional Advertisements.

Introduction. Drug promotional advertisements (DPAs) form a major marketing technique of pharmaceutical companies for promoting their products and disseminating ambiguous drug information which can affect prescribing pattern of physicians. Drug information includes product characteristics, various marketing claims with references in support to increase its credibility and authenticity. Material and Methods. An observational study was carried out on fifty printed drug advertisement brochures which were collected from different OPDs of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital attached to Government Medical College, Amritsar, India. These advertisements were analyzed and claims were categorized into true, false, exaggerated, vague, and controversial on criteria as reported by Rohraa et al. (2006). References of DPAs in support of the claims were critically analyzed for their retrievability from web and validity pertaining to claims. Results. Out of 209 claims from 50 advertisements, only 46% were found to be true, 21% false, 16% vague, 7% exaggerated, and 10% controversial in nature. Out of 160 references given in support of claims, 49 (30%) of references were irretrievable. Out of 111 (70%) retrievable references, 92 (83%) references were found valid. Conclusion. Drug information provided in the DPAs was biased, incomplete, unauthentic, and unreliable with references exhibiting questionable credibility.