Indoramin in Essential Hypertension: A Survey of the Patient Records From Long‐term Clinical Trials

1 The results of seven long-term clinical trials of indoramin in patients with essential hypertension were analysed by the scatter diagram method which allowed the comparison of each experimental point with a theoretical predetermined response line. The method consisted of constructing a scatter diagram of fall in diastolic blood pressure against pretreatment diastolic blood pressure for all patients after 3 and 12 months' treatment with indoramin. 2 The decrease in blood pressure caused by indoramin given continuously for 12 months was not significantly different from that caused by the drug after only 3 months of treatment. This indicates that indoramin's antihypertensive effect did not diminish during long-term therapy with the drug. By the scatter diagram analysis about 60% patients had ‘excellent’ responses (less than 90 mm Hg diastolic blood pressure) to indoramin alone or with a thiazide diuretic, 25% had ‘good’ responses (between 90 and 100 mm Hg diastolic blood pressure) and 15% had ‘poor’ responses (greater than 100 mm Hg diastolic blood pressure). 3 The principal side-effects were sedation, dry mouth, dizziness and, in male patients, failure of ejaculation. These side-effects were reported by each patient suffering them on average on between 1.3 and 1.8 occasions only. Reporting diminished as the trials progressed. Some investigators noted that side-effects were occasionally reversed by moderate reduction in indoramin dosage.