Calcium Channel Blocking Agents

THE COUNCIL on Scientific Affairs is charged with the task of advising the American Medical Association's Board of Trustees "on substantial and promising developments in the scientific aspects of medicine and biomedical research that warrant public attention." Many innovations in diagnosis and drug use are introduced every year, and various award-giving bodies attempt to assess those that will be most important. It is difficult, however, to know at what point the medical profession should be alerted to an important new advance, especially when commercial interests are involved. The natural enthusiasm for a novel approach, abetted by good salesmanship, can lead to excessive use of the new treatment that finds its rightful place in the therapeutic armamentarium only some years later, after being tempered by sober experience. The category of drugs designated as slow calcium channel blocking agents is seeing quick and enthusiastic acceptance in cardiological practice since its initial approval