Treatment of allergic rhinitis with a new selective H1 antihistamine: terfenadine.

The effectiveness of 60 mg b.i.d. of a novel antihistamine, terfenadine, was compared with an active control, 4 mg t.i.d. of chlorpheniramine, and placebo in 560 patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis. In contrast to the gradual decrease in seasonal symptoms observed over a 7 day period of study in placebo-treated patients, both antihistamines produced a prompt significant decrease in sneezing and rhinorrhea, and a gradual decrease in nasopharyngeal pruritus. Terfenadine-related sedation did not differ from that produced by the placebo and was less than the sedation produced by the active control.