A comparative evaluation of two transdermal nitroglycerin delivery systems: Nitro-Dur versus Transderm-Nitro. The Collaborative Investigation Group.

A paired-comparison, multicenter study examined differences in patient and physician preferences for two transdermal nitroglycerin delivery systems, Nitro-Dur Transdermal Infusion System and Transderm-Nitro Transdermal Therapeutic System. For two weeks, 72 patients with angina pectoris wore both transdermal nitroglycerin patches simultaneously, each patch delivering half of each patient's need for nitroglycerin. (Each patch delivers nitroglycerin to the skin at a rate of about 0.02 mg/cm2 of patch per hour.) The patients and their physicians were then asked to rate the patches and to express their preferences with respect to eight patch characteristics: size, color, comfort, ease of application, adhesiveness, ease of removal, appearance, and associated redness/irritation. On each of the patch characteristics, significantly more of the patients expressed a preference for Nitro-Dur. Of the 67 patients who rated the patches overall, significantly more preferred Nitro-Dur (47 patients) than Transderm-Nitro (17 patients). Physician evaluations were also significantly biased in favor of Nitro-Dur. Treatment side effects included headache in 17 patients, application-site reactions in seven, nausea in four, dizziness in three, and fatigue in two. It is concluded that Nitro-Dur has greater patient acceptance than Transderm-Nitro and thus treatment compliance may be higher with Nitro-Dur than with Transderm-Nitro.