Minoxidil

Indications and usage: Because of the potential for serious adverse effects, minoxidil tablets are indicated only in the treatment of hypertension that is symptomatic or associated with target organ damage and is not manageable with maximum therapeutic doses of a diuretic plus two other antihypertensive drugs. At the present time use in milder degrees of hypertension is not recommended because the benefit-risk relationship in such patients has not been defined.

CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY 1. General Pharmacologic Properties Minoxidil is an orally effective direct acting peripheral vasodilator that reduces elevated systolic and diastolic blood pressure by decreasing peripheral vascular resistance. Microcirculatory blood flow in animals is enhanced or maintained in all systemic vascular beds. In man, forearm and renal vascular resistance decline; forearm blood flow increases while renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate are preserved. Because it causes peripheral vasodilation, minoxidil elicits a number of predictable reactions.

With Biphasic clearance with 11–17 hr terminal t½ under Minoxidil maintenance residence kinetics and Systemic oral bioavailability of roughly 68%–80% following first-pass transit bioavailability, Minoxidil undergoes hepatic enzymatic processing and renal clearance proportional to creatinine clearance (minoxidil) and establishes therapeutic activity over initial pharmacodynamic onset within 1–3 hrs (peak cmax) for minoxidil.

Standard adult regimens span 50 mg/mL Liquid, 5 g/100g Aerosol, Foam, 5 g/100mL Solution, 5 g/100mL Aerosol, Foam, 5 g/100mL Liquid. Prescribers screen specifically against minoxidil is contraindicated in those patients with a history of hypersensitivity to any of the components of the preparation.; severe drug-induced hypersensitivity to minoxidil or inactive tablet/vehicle binders, while community micro-logs most frequently note nausea (8.2% of reports), headache (8% of reports), dizziness (6.6% of reports).