Cerebral arterial spasm frequently causes ischemic neurological damage after subarachnoid hemorrhage from a ruptured intracranial aneurysm. Nimodipine (Nimotop - Miles), a 1,4-dihydropyridine calcium-entry blocker, was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for oral treatment of such patients; an intravenous preparation is available only for investigational use.

Clozapine (Clozaril - Sandoz), a dibenzodiazepine antipsychotic drug that has been available in Europe for many years, was recently approved for marketing by the US Food and Drug Administration. Because of its toxicity, the labeling for clozapine recommends using the drug only for schizophrenic patients who have not responded adequately to standard antipsychotic drugs or have had intolerable adverse effects.

Bepridil hydrochloride (Vascor - McNeil Pharmaceutical/Wallace Laboratories), a calcium-channel blocking agent chemically unrelated to verapamil (Calan, and others), nifedipine (Procardia, and others), or other drugs in this class, was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for oral treatment of chronic stable angina pectoris. Because of its potential adverse effects, the labeling recommends reserving the drug for patients who fail to respond optimally to or are intolerant of other antianginal agents.

Ondansetron (on dan' se tron; Zofran - Glaxo), a serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) antagonist, was recently marketed in the USA for intravenous use to prevent nausea and vomiting due to cancer chemotherapy. An oral formulation is available in many other countries.

Sertraline (Zoloft - Roerig), a serotonin reuptake inhibitor, was recently approved for marketing by the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment of depression. Another serotonin reuptake inhibitor, fluoxetine (Prozac), is prescribed more frequently in the USA than any other antidepressant (Medical Letter, 32:83, 1990).

hydrochloride (Ticlid - Syntex), a platelet aggregation inhibitor that has been available in Europe for more than a decade, was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to decrease the risk of thrombotic stroke in men and women who have had premonitory signs of stroke or have had a completed thrombotic stroke. The manufacturer is promoting the drug for patients intolerant to aspirin or with conditions for which aspirin has not been approved (previous thrombotic stroke; transient ischemic attacks in women). The drug has also been used for prevention of myocardial ...

Finasteride (Proscar - Merck) has now been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for oral treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. A 4-aza-steroid, the drug is a specific inhibitor of steroid 5 -reductase, the enzyme that catalyzes conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone. Dihydrotestosterone is required for development and maintenance of prostatic hypertrophy (JS Tenover, Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am, 20:893, 1991).

Zolpidem (Ambien - Searle), an imidazopyridine hypnotic available in Europe for several years, was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for short-term treatment of insomnia.

Minoxidil 2% topical solution (Rogaine - Upjohn) has been available in the USA since 1988 for treatment of androgenetic alopecia (Medical Letter, 29:87, 1987). Although available only by prescription, it is advertised on television to the general public.

Fluvastatin (Lescol - Sandoz), an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, was recently marketed in the USA for treatment of hypercholesterolemia. A synthetic mevalonolactone derivative, it is chemically distinct from previously available drugs in this class.