Comparative trials and extensive clinical experience have demonstrated the efficacy and tolerability of valproic acid and support its role as a valuable and well established first-line treatment for patients with a broad range of seizure types.
Metformin is an effective antihyperglycaemic agent which appears to improve aberrant plasma lipid and fibrinolytic profiles associated with NIDDM and should be considered first-line pharmacotherapy in obese patients with NIDs inadequately controlled by nonpharmacological measures.
The clinical efficacy of azithromycin has been confirmed in the treatment of infections of the lower and upper respiratory tracts, skin and soft tissues, in uncomplicated urethritis/cervicitis associated with C. trachomatis, N. gonorrhoea or U. urealyticum and in thetreatment of early Lyme disease.
Clinical efficacy and promising in vitro and preliminary in vivo activity of clarithromycin against Mycobacterium leprae and Helicobacter pylori warrant further clinical trials to assess its efficacy in patients with these infections.
Animal studies suggest that zonisamide possesses a more favourable therapeutic index than most other antiepileptic drugs, however, clinical trials conducted to date, have not confirmed any overt tolerability advantage.
Results of available studies are increasingly highlighting an important future role for fludarabine in the treatment of acute leukaemias and low grade NHL and possibly other lymphoproliferative disorders, particularly when used as a component of combination chemotherapy.
Pending confirmation of initial randomised studies and preliminary results from large randomised investigations, tacrolimus may well be considered as an alternative primary immunosuppressant to cyclosporin in hepatic (particularly) and renal transplantation.
Finasteride is a novel therapeutic agent that selectively inhibits the enzyme 5 alpha-reductase, thereby reducing prostatic dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels and prostate size. In men with symptomatic…
Teicoplanin may be preferred to vancomycin in the treatment of Gram-positive infections, and where a glycopeptide antibiotic is deemed a necessary inclusion in a regimen for empirical treatment in patients with fever and neutropenia.
The tolerability profile of ceftazidime makes the drug a useful option in seriously ill patients who are at risk of developing adverse events with other antibacterial agents, and judicious use of this important agent will help maintain its present clinical utility.