Comparisons of efficacy and tolerance of moricizine with other antiarrhythmic agents in the treatment of chronic ventricular arrhythmias.

Comparative trials of a new drug with standard antiarrhythmic agents are important for establishing relative efficacy and tolerance. For moricizine, such trials have included comparisons with propranolol, disopyramide and quinidine. Furthermore, the Cardiac Arrhythmia Pilot Study compared moricizine in postinfarction patients with encainide and flecainide. These trials show moricizine to be superior in efficacy to a beta blocker (propranolol) and disopyramide and equivalent to quinidine. Although the class IC drugs (encainide and flecainide) showed somewhat greater efficacy in the Cardiac Arrhythmic Pilot Study, they are now known to increase the risk of mortality in postinfarction patients. Moricizine was also shown to be well tolerated in these trials and associated with fewer discontinuations than propranolol, disopyramide and quinidine. Thus, moricizine is a promising new agent when profiled against other drugs frequently used for therapy of chronic ventricular arrhythmias.