[Pharmacology and clinical use of a fixed combination of nifedipine and slow release atenolol (Niften) in the treatment of arterial hypertension and angina pectoris].

Nifedipine and atenolol are first choice drugs in the treatment of arterial hypertension and angina pectoris. In both these pathologies the administration of nifedipine and atenolol in free or fixed combinations has proved extremely efficacious in patients who were not adequately controlled by either drug in monotherapy. A fixed combination of intestinal slow-release nifedipine and atenolol (Niften) was recently developed and has already undergone several comparative and double-blind clinical trials for the treatment of arterial hypertension and angina pectoris. The pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic characteristics of atenolol and nifedipine are not altered when these drugs are administered in fixed or free combination. It has been shown that the nifedipine-atenolol combination causes anti-hypertensive and anti-anginous effects at doses which are lower, for either of its two components, in comparison to the doses required to achieve the same effects using monotherapy. In arterial hypertension a clinically striking anti-hypertensive effect on systolic and diastolic levels is maintained for 24 hours after a single administration of slow-release nifedipine 20 mg+atenolol 50 mg. In angina pectoris, this dose must be administered every 12 hours to ensure a constant and prolonged effect of the calcium antagonist component. The association of nifedipine and atenolol does not induce notable depressive effects on myocardial contractility, except in patients with severely compromised basal resting contractile function.