Azelnidipine (Sankyov KK)

Azelnidipine (CS-905) is a long-acting, once-daily, orally-administered calcium channel antagonist which is being jointly developed by Sankyo and UBE. An NDA for the treatment of hypertension was filed in Japan in July 1997 [314648,271372,312610]. In a clinical trial presented at the European Meeting on Hypertension in 1995, azelnidipine decreased systolic and diastolic blood pressures at rest and during exercise. There were no significant changes in resting heart rate and cardiac output and the exercise-induced increase of these parameters was also unaffected [179222]. In February 1999, Lehman Brothers predicted a 90% probability that azelnidipine would reach the Japanese market and launch by 1999. Expected Japanese sales are predicted to be US dollar 16 million in 2000, rising to dollar 32 million in 2002. Peak annual sales of US dollar 100 million are predicted for 2008 [319225].