Safety profile of lacidipine: a review of clinical data

The clinical safety of the new dihydropyridine calcium antagonist lacidipine was assessed in 14 clinical trials, including 1,372 patients treated with lacidipine and 687 treated with an alternative antihypertensive agent. The type and incidence of adverse events seen with lacidipine were characteristic of this class of drug, being mainly those associated with the pharmacologic effect of vasodilation, but with a lower incidence of edema than seen with nifedipine. There were no unexpected adverse effects. Hence, lacidipine is likely to be well accepted in general clinical use. Furthermore, as it has the advantages of a long duration of action and once-daily dosage, the benefit/risk ratio indicates that lacidipine is a suitable agent for the first-line treatment of hypertension across a wide range of patients.