The efficacy of PY 108-068 (75 and 150 mg/day), a new dihydropyridine calcium antagonist, was compared with placebo for treatment of chronic stable angina. Twelve patients were studied in a placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized, crossover trial of 2 weeks each. Antianginal efficacy was assessed by the number of episodes of angina and nitroglycerin tablets consumed during each 2-week period, as well as the number of episodes of ischemia during 48-hour ambulatory monitoring and the area and severity of ST-segment depression during 16-point precordial exercise mapping. Nitroglycerin consumption (mean +/- standard error of the mean) decreased from 6.1 +/- 2.9 with placebo to 1.8 +/- 1.5 with 75 mg/day of PY 108-068 (p less than or equal to 0.03) and to 3.6 +/- 2.3 with 150 mg/day of PY 108-068 (p less than or equal to 0.01 vs placebo, difference not significant vs 75 mg/day of PY 108-068), whereas episodes of angina were reduced significantly only by the high dose (p less than or equal to 0.03) (11.1 +/- 3.9 with placebo, 6.3 +/- 2.4 with 75 mg/day of PY 108-068 and 8.1 +/- 3.4 with 150 mg/day of PY 108-068). The low dose alone significantly reduced ST-segment depression during exercise testing (p less than or equal to 0.03) (29.6 +/- 3.6 with placebo, 23.1 +/- 5.6 with 75 mg/day of PY 108-068 and 24.4 +/- 5.0 with 150 mg/day of PY 108-068), whereas neither dose significantly altered the number of episodes of ischemia during ambulatory monitoring.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)