Nebivolol: An Appealing, Awaited and Nitric Oxide Potentiator Drug for the Treatment of Heart Failure

Nebivolol is a third generation beta-blocker that possesses the highest selectivity for beta-1 receptors than beta-2 receptors than any other beta blocker in its class. Long-term therapy of nebivolol, in clinical trials, has been found to be very effective in increasing the left ventricular ejection fraction, reducing all-cause mortality, and reducing the New York Heart Association (NYHA) class of heart failure. The novelty of nebivolol exists in its unique nitric oxide potentiating effects in the myocardial and endothelial cells by the activation of beta-3 adrenergic receptors by which it produces most of its actions. It produces many useful effects and helps to abate the disease progression and prolongs the survival. In many clinical studies, it has been found to be safe and well tolerated. A literature search was made on PubMed database with the keywords: “Heart failure”, “Nebivolol”, and “beta- blocker”. A total of 176 articles were found and were the combination of review articles and Original Articles. A further selection of articles was made by the exclusion of non-relevant articles to achieve the objective of this review. It is approved for the treatment of hypertension in the United States and is under review by the federal agency, United States Food and Drugs Administration for the treatment of heart failure. This article sole intention is to review all the clinically important aspects of nebivolol on the basis of which nebivolol can be definitely considered for its inclusion in the drug therapy list for heart failure which will ease the individualization of drug therapy.