NEBIVOLOL

Nebivolol is a “unique drug” with a double action mechanism indicated in the treatment of arterial hypertension.
It belongs to the well-known class of last-generation beta blockers and is therefore highly selective, added to which it has a significant vasodilatation action due to the activity of nitric oxide, a physiologically active substance in the human organism.
Due to the combined action of the two mechanisms, nebivolol offers the same effectiveness in reducing the arterial pressure values with respect to the other classes of drugs commonly used in this pathology, but with evident tolerability advantages, thanks to its more physiological and highly selective action as a receptorial blocker.

Despite being classified among the cardioselective blockers, nebivolol in fact only partially shares their action, inasmuch as it induces an increase in the availability of nitric oxide at the level of the internal walls of the blood vessels, in other words, the endothelium.
Nitric oxide, which is physiologically present in the individual, favours the dilatation of the arteries, thus contributing towards maintaining the arterial pressure levels within the norm and preventing arteriosclerosis and its feared consequences (infarct, ictus, renal insufficiency)

The combination of its action mechanisms, as a beta1-receptor blocker and a direct vasodilator, also characterises nebivolol thanks to its favourable haemodynamic profile. This drug improves the cardiac functioning parameters both in healthy volunteers and hypertense and coronaropathic patients, as well as those suffering from cardiac insufficiency, thus improving the working of the heart.
It therefore follows, as demonstrated in various clinical studies, that nebivolol is capable of improving the quality of life of patients suffering from cardiovascular pathologies, improving their exercise capacity (the heart’s operating capacity) and offering a tolerability profile equal to that of the placebo.

We must keep in mind that a high percentage of hypertense patients and those also suffering from other cardiovascular pathologies are still not treated in a adequate manner with respect to the indications in the guidelines of the main Scientific Societies, and this can be blamed mainly on the patients’ scarce adhesion to the treatment due to the side effects.It is easy to understand how a drug with a high anti-hypertensive effectiveness - and now after the results of the SENIORS study, which is also efficacious in heart insufficiency therapy - accompanied by an excellent tolerability, can be a valid first choice for the doctor.