What is "urapidil"

n. A sympatholytic antihypertensive drug.

Urapidil is a sympatholytic antihypertensive drug. It acts as an α-adrenoceptor antagonist and as an 5-HT receptor agonist Although an initial report suggested that urapidil was also an α-adrenoceptor agonist, this was not substantiated in later studies that demonstrated it was devoid of agonist actions in the dog saphenous vein and the guinea-pig ileum. Unlike some other α-adrenoceptor antagonists, urapidil does not elicit reflex tachycardia, and this may be related to its weak β-adrenoceptor antagonist activity, as well as its effect on cardiac vagal drive. Urapidil is currently not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but it is available in Europe.