Pharmaceutical Chemistry-II

Cardiovascular drug

Cardiovascular drugs are those drugs that are used to treat various pathological conditions of the
cardiovascular system. These drugs comprise a huge arsenal of drugs that fight a broad list
of diseases in medical science i.e CVS diseases. Chemically these drugs are more or less like
some synthetic and some semi-synthetic versions of their natural crude sources.

Any agent that affects the function of the heart and blood vessels. Drugs that act on the
cardiovascular system are among the most widely used in medicine. Examples of disorders in
which such drugs may be useful include

 hypertension (high blood pressure),

  angina pectoris (chest pain resulting from inadequate blood flow through the coronary
arteries to the heart muscle),
  heart failure (inadequate output of the heart muscle in relation to the needs of the rest of
the body),
  arrhythmias (disturbances of cardiac rhythm)

Classification of Cardiovascular Drug

Basis of classification
In pharmacological classification, there is certain basis which we take into consideration while
classifying Them.they are;

 The site of action.

 Mechanism of action.
 Chemical nature of the drug.
 Nature of disease.

Here for general classification of cardiovascular drugs, we take nature of the disease as the basis
of classification. In other words, drugs are classified on the basis of cardiovascular Ailments that
they treat.
Cardiovascular Drugs Classification:

Cardiovascular agents are classified into the following five Drug classes.

1. Antihypertensive drugs

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2. Anti-anginal drugs
3. Anti-congestive cardiac failure (CCF) drugs
4. Anti-arrhythmic drugs
5. Anti-hyperlipidemic drugs

Anti-hypertensive drugs
These are drugs used to lower B.P in hypertension. Hypertension is a very common disorder,
particularly past middle age. It is not a disease in itself But is an important risk factor for
cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Drugs included in this category are

 Beta-blocker
 Alpha blockers
 Direct vasodilators (hydralazine etc)
 Diuretics
 Ace-inhibitors
 Calcium channel blockers
 Angiotensin ii receptor blocker
 Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system blockers

Anti-anginal drugs
These drugs are used for treating angina pectoris and myocardial infarction. These drugs include.

 Coronary vasodilators (particularly Nitrites and Nitrates particularly organic nitrates) 

 Beta Blockers.
 Calcium channel blockers.
 Potassium channel opener.
 Anti-platelet aggregation drugs.
 Anti-Hyperlipidemias.

Antihyperlipidemic:

These drugs are used to decrease high lipids levels of fats and cholesterols. Chemically most of
These drugs are steroids in nature.
They are further classified as.

 Cholesterolemic
 Triglyceridemic

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These drugs include "HMG-CoA reductase" inhibitors i.e pravastatin and fluvastatin.

Anti-CCF(congestive cardiac failure)

These drugs are used for treating congestive cardiac failure. They include.

 Rennin angiotensin aldosterone system blockers

 Beta-blockers
 Diuretics
 Direct acting vasodilators
 Inotropic drugs
 Aldosterone antagonist

Anti-arrhythmic drugs
They are used for treating arrhythmias like bradycardia and tachycardia. They are alpha blockers.
Anti-arrhythmic drugs are classified into following classes.

Class I antiarrhythmics:  

Predominantly sodium channel blockers 

Class II antiarrhythmics: 

Class II antiarrhythmics are beta blockers i.e Propranolol, Metoprolol, Esmolol

Class III antiarrhythmics:

They are potassium channel blockers and block the outflow of k ions during repolarization of
cardiac cells. Amiodarone and dronedarone are examples.

Class IV antiarrhythmics

Class 4 antiarrhythmic includes calcium(Ca2+ ) channel blockers other than dipine class(only
diltiazem and verapamil).

Other antiarrhythmics

Digoxin and adenosine are classified as other antiarrhythmics. most of these are cardiac
glycosides.

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