[Drugs of the future]

Many therapeutic approaches are under evaluation in patients with cardiac failure. They include angiotensin receptor inhibitors, selective and non-selective endothelin receptor inhibitors, neutral endopeptidase inhibitors or mixed inhibitors of neutral endopeptidase and of the angiotensin converting enzyme and, finally, cytokinin modulators. Some of these drugs have already entered Phase II therapeutic trials and are at relatively advanced developmental stages. Others are at preliminary or experimental stages. If these new drugs prove to be effective and well tolerated, they will represent new tools for physicians to treat cardiac failure and prevent its progression. However, many questions concerning drug associations and poly-therapy will be raised, leading to a revision of the strategy of treatment of cardiac failure.