Potential Cardioprotective Effect of Mibefradil in the Long-Term Treatment of Hypertension

During the last 2 decades, remarkable progress has been made in the treatment of hypertension with the discovery of new drugs lowering blood pressure by various mechanisms, e.g. calcium channel blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II antagonists. These antihypertensive agents are now widely used as first-line therapy although there is still no definite proof that they have a cardioprotective effect and reduce the mortality rate in patients with coronary heart disease. Mibefradil is a new calcium antagonist with a novel mechanism of action since it is the only drug available so far able to block T channels. This compound might be particularly effective in preventing cardiac morbidity and mortality. It reduces heart rate when lowering blood pressure, has no negative inotropic effect, allows regression of cardiac hypertrophy and is effective in the treatment of angina. Mibefradil produces a sustained blood pressure reduction with a close to optimal trough:peak ratio. A major advantage of this novel compound is its excellent tolerability over the dose range recommended (50-100 mg/day). In particular, leg edema is seen clearly less often during mibefradil treatment than during therapy with dihydropyridines. Mibefradil has therefore an attractive profile in terms of both efficacy and safety and represents a promising first-line option to treat hypertensive patients.