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Current Pharmaceutical Design

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1381-6128
ISSN (Online): 1873-4286

Milestones in Antihypertensive Drug Treatment

Author(s): Gregory Tsoucalas, Marianna Karamanou, Manolis Vavuranakis, Markos Sgantzos, Christodoulos Stefanadis and Georgios Androutsos

Volume 21, Issue 6, 2015

Page: [705 - 708] Pages: 4

DOI: 10.2174/1381612820666141023163552

Price: $65

Abstract

Hypertension provoked since the beginning of the 19th century a medical debate between physicians. The early antihypertensive agents were poorly tolerated. Progress towards more effective drugs, appeared after the 2nd World War. Thiocyanates, dehydrogenated alkaloids of ergot, barbiturates, bismuth and bromides, were soon replaced by phenoxbenzamine, hexamethonium, pentolinium, and mecamylamine. Thiazide diuretics were the biggest breakthrough during the early 1960's. Then Beta(β)-blockers and angiotensinconverting enzyme inhibitors heralded a new era, until 1995, when losartan, the first non-peptide anti-hypertensive drug, was introduced. The plethora of the antihypertensive drugs changed the relationship between physicians and patients, pushed medicine towards prevention, and altered the medical marketing forever.

Keywords: Antihypertensive drugs, thiazide diuretics, Beta(β)-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, losartan, physicianpatient relationship, medical marketing.


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