New felodipine for sustained BP treatment

A new brand of felodipine, a popularly prescribed antihypertensive drug, will soon be out in the market which is expected to address the problem of patient compliance because of its pharmacoeconomic or affordable cost.

This will likely help sustain blood-pressure or BP control and prevent complications such as stroke and heart attack.

People suffering from chronic diseases such as hypertension, generally deal with a whole gamut of medical examinations and drug treatments to prolong life and hopefully, retard the progress of the disease.

However, problems arise when patients choose to forego their medical treatments and fail to follow the instructions of their physicians and other healthcare professionals.

If patients are not compliant with their treatment, regardless of the stage of the disease or the complexity of the treatment, they are putting themselves at risk for greater emotional, mental and physical complications.

Failure to sustain medical treatment is caused by numerous factors like financial, psychological and emotional. Non-compliance with treatment may be due to denial of being sick, not an act of defiance. Sometimes, the responsibility of keeping up with daily doses is enough to confuse the mind of a patient who has other worries.

Among the common causes of non-compliance is the costly medicine, which may result in the cessation of treatment. Involuntary compliance is the unfortunate result when the patient has financial troubles, most especially when the treatment is long-term or lifetime.

A survey conducted by ISIS Research revealed that 18 percent of patients who cannot afford medicine borrow money from their relatives. This practice, however, is a short-term solution for a long-term problem.

Others opt for more affordable but ineffective alternatives, switching to other remedies such as herbal medicines. Worse, the survey revealed that 13 percent will just stop taking their medication.

Effective and affordable medicines, particularly reasonably priced medicines reflecting corporate social responsibility of their distributors, are seen as an answer to the problem of treatment non-compliance.

If the patient has the option to buy an affordable, yet effective medicine, it is most likely that he will be able to sustain the treatment regimen recommended by his doctor.

With this scenario, there is a clamor for pharmaceutical companies to lower their prices to enable patients to continue with their treatment religiously.

An affordable brand of felodipine, which belongs to the calcium channel blocker class of drugs and is one of the most prescribed antihypertensive drugs, will soon be launched in the country.

Several landmark clinical studies, such as the Hypertension Optimal Treatment (HOT) study done by Hansson et al., have shown that a felodipine-based treatment regimen helps achieve optimal blood pressure target levels which translate into a lower incidence of cardiovascular complications such as heart attacks and strokes.

Hypertension remains to be the most prevalent risk factor of cardiovascular diseases in the country. It is estimated that 20 percent of Filipino adults are hypertensive.

The introduction of a pharmacoeconomic felodipine will help physicians and hypertensive patients have treatment sustainability within reach.

Patients are reminded that felodipine is a prescription drug and should only be bought upon a doctor’s advice.