Pharmacological profile, efficacy and safety of rupatadine in allergic rhinitis

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a disease with high prevalence. In AR, exposure to airborne allergens elicits an allergic response which involves epithelial accumulation of effector cells - e.g. mast cells and basophils - and subsequent inflammation. During the early response in AR, histamine has been found to be the most abundant mediator and it is associated with many symptoms of this disease mediated through the histamine H1 receptor. Therefore, anti-histamines have a role to play in the management of AR. However, the available antihistamines have certain well-known side effects like sedation and potential pro-arrythmic effects owing to their interactions with other drugs, as well as having poor or no effect on platelet activating factor (PAF) which also plays an important role in AR. This article is a qualitative systematic literature review on the pharmacological profile of rupatadine in order to evaluate its safety and efficacy in AR as compared to other anti-histamines. Rupatadine is a once-daily non-sedative, selective, long-acting H1 anti-histamine with antagonistic PAF effects through its interaction with specific receptors. Rupatadine significantly improves nasal symptoms in patients with AR. It has a good safety profile and is devoid of arrythmogenic effects. These properties make rupatadine a suitable first line anti-histamine for the treatment of AR.