Amlodipine
Amlodipine (Norvasc) is a calcium channel blocker used to treat high blood pressure and chronic stable angina. This catalogue lists it as the single-ingredient Norvasc, and combined with other blood pressure medicines in Azor, Tribenzor and Exforge.
Key points
- Amlodipine’s absolute bioavailability is estimated at 64 to 90%, with a terminal elimination half-life of around 30 to 50 hours.
- Oedema is amlodipine’s most commonly reported side effect, showing up in a dose-related pattern: 10.8% of patients on the 10 mg dose against 0.6% on placebo.
- Your liver processes about 90% of amlodipine into inactive substances, with the remainder passed largely unchanged in urine.
What Amlodipine is used for
Norvasc’s label states that amlodipine treats Hypertension, lowering blood pressure, and gives symptomatic relief from Chronic Stable Angina, regular chest pain that follows a predictable pattern. Azor, Tribenzor and Exforge use amlodipine as part of a combination for high blood pressure, pairing it with a second or third blood pressure medicine in one tablet.
Brands and forms in this catalogue
Norvasc lists amlodipine on its own, as a tablet in 2.5 mg, 5 mg and 10 mg strengths, and its originator is Pfizer. The other three brands combine amlodipine with a second or third blood pressure medicine in one tablet: Azor pairs it with olmesartan medoxomil, Tribenzor adds hydrochlorothiazide to that same pairing, and Exforge combines it with valsartan. Azor and Tribenzor were originated by Daiichi Sankyo, and Exforge by Novartis, which is why this single active ingredient carries different owning brands across the Heart & Blood Pressure category rather than one company covering the whole line. Norvasc is the amlodipine brand name a UAE shopper is most likely to already recognise.
Further reading
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