Editorial What Have We Learned From the Calcium Channel Blocker Controversy ?

Hundreds of thousands of patients around the world have been treated with drugs that antagonize the function of calcium channels. The development of these drugs was based on the remarkable scientific discovery of calcium channels, the identification of methods to antagonize their effects, and the development of compounds to block them.' As concepts of the pathophysiology and treatment of hypertension and atherosclerosis evolved in parallel with the science of calcium channels, an approach to determining whether these therapies have clinical benefit was developed.