The 3rd Adalat® Regional Asia-Pacific Expert Workshop, held on May 27th 2006 in Taipei, was a resounding success – highlighting the impressive and pivotal role of Adalat® in preventing long-term cardiovascular events. In an excellent summary, co-Chairman Professor Jyh-Hong Chen talked about the importance of calcium channel blockers (CCBs) as first-line antihypertensive agents, and how this message is strengthened by the clinical data with Adalat® GITS. More importantly, he alluded to the additional benefits provided by Adalat® GITS, which protect against target-organ damage. Despite the availability of, and technological advancements in, cardiovascular procedures, pharmacological intervention using safe and effective risk-factor-management strategies, such as Adalat® GITS, will remain the mainstay of disease prevention.
In a series of keynote presentations given by eminent experts, an overview of the current management strategy for hypertension was discussed. The pivotal role of Adalat® GITS in cardiovascular disease prevention was strengthened by the wealth of positive data supporting the benefits of CCBs. Furthermore, the limitations of other antihypertensive drug classes, which are likely to be reflected in updated treatment guidelines, will make Adalat® GITS the obvious treatment of choice. Delegates readily participated in a survey to gauge and compare clinical practices between specialities and across the Asia-Pacific countries. Clearly, there is a general consensus that effectively lowering blood pressure has a crucial part in disease prevention, particularly in patients with additional underlying complications, thereby highlighting the increasing need for combination therapy. There is growing clinical evidence to show that Adalat® GITS should be considered a key component in this strategy.
In addition to the scientific presentations, the delegates were kept fully engaged throughout the programme using both question cards and interactive keypad voting – allowing them to initiate and actively contribute to discussions. A session based around real patient case studies allowed the delegates and the faculty to exchange views and explore different clinical practices, but more importantly provided an ideal forum to highlight the additional benefits of Adalat® GITS relevant to a broad spectrum of at-risk patients. ACTION has added strength to the argument that the higher the risk to the patient, the greater the benefit of safely and effectively controlling blood pressure. The benefits of Adalat® GITS when administered in addition to the best-practice medication patients were receiving in ACTION, is testament to this. As Professor Peter Meredith concluded, the key challenge is to ensure this positive feature of Adalat® GITS is not only delivered to the wider community, but that it is put into clinical practice.
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