Nebivolol – An effective weapon in our therapeutical arsenal

Background Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in developed countries. Beta-blockers represent a very important resource for treatment and prevention of these diseases. Traditional beta-blockers, have been largely used throughout the years but they resulted to be contraindicated in some clinical situations. “New” drugs have resulted to be very effective and safe in those groups of patients who could not benefit from others beta-blockers. Nebivolol, a long-acting cardioselective beta-blocker with high selectivity for β 1 -adrenergic receptors, has proved its efficacy in hypertension and heart failure treatment. Furthermore, its nitric-oxide induced benefits, as vasodilatating and antioxidant effects, seem to give it an interesting role in protecting from cardiovascular events. Conclusions New generations beta-blockers represent an important alternative in cardiovascular disease treatment and prevention. Nebivolol, a third generation beta-blocker, has demontrated not only to be as affective as others new beta-blockers but also to have qualities not shared by the others. Thanks to its properties and its good tolerability profile, nebivolol could be an appropriate choice in cardiovascular treatment especially in elderly patients with other comorbidities. Keywords: beta-blockers; nebivolol; hypertension; heart failure; nitric oxide. Received: April 1, 2014; Accepted: June 3, 2014; Published: November 13, 2014 Corresponding Author: Giuseppe Marazzi, MD, PhD, via della Pisana 235, 00163, Rome, Italy. E-mail: giuseppe.marazzi@sanraffaele.it .