The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7203 p861-867
22 June 2002

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New drug launched for claudication

Cilostazol (Pletal), a new drug for patients with intermittent claudication, has been launched this week by Otsuka Pharmaceuticals (see p869).

Cilostazol is a phosphodiesterase III inhibitor and exhibits both anti-platelet and vasodilation activity thus improving blood flow. Otsuka Pharmaceuticals says that patients treated with cilostazol show an improvement in the distance they can walk, irrespective of age, smoking history, use of beta-blockers or calcium channel blockers, and duration of peripheral artery disease.