Metoprolol

Abstract
METOPROLOL TARTRATE (Lopressor) is a β-adrenoceptor antagonist released for clinical use in the United States last year (Fig. 1). It is the first systemic β-blocker to be allowed on the United States market since propranolol was approved for the treatment of arrhythmias in 1967. Metoprolol was marketed in Sweden in 1974, and by 1978 more than a quarter of a million patients in 21 countries had used the drug. Treatment of hypertension is the only indication for metoprolol presently sanctioned by the Food and Drug Administration; this indication was approved for propranolol only in 1976 as the latest of many. . . .