Ten years of clinical experience with metoprolol.

Metoprolol has been on the market for 10 years; the research, however, started nearly 20 years earlier and clinical research some 17 years ago. Metoprolol has been and is still subject to intensive research, which has resulted in evidence for its cardiovascular protective effects in coronary heart disease, cardiovascular hypertrophy and atherosclerosis. The properties making the beta 1-selective blocker metoprolol a cardioprotective drug and pharmaceutical development improving the qualities of the substance are also discussed in this review.