Perindopril is a medication used to treat high blood pressure, heart failure, or stable coronary artery disease. As a long-acting ACE inhibitor, it works by relaxing blood vessels and decreasing blood volume. As a prodrug, perindopril is hydrolyzed in the liver to its active metabolite, perindoprilat. It was patented in 1980 and approved for medical use in 1988. Perindopril is taken in the form of perindopril arginine (trade names include Coversyl, Coversum) or perindopril erbumine (Aceon). Both forms are therapeutically equivalent and interchangeable, but the dose prescribed to achieve the same effect differs between the two forms. It is also often combined with another medication, sometimes in the same tablet (see #Combinations below). Medical uses Perindopril shares the indications of ACE inhibitors as a class, including essential hypertension, stable coronary artery disease (reduction of risk of cardiac events in patients with a history of myocardial infarction and/or revascularization), treatment of symptomatic coronary artery disease or heart failure, and diabetic nephropathy. Combination therapy With indapamide In combination with indapamide, perindopril has been shown to significantly reduce the progression of chronic kidney disease and renal complications in patients with type 2 diabetes. In addition, the Perindopril pROtection aGainst REcurrent Stroke Study (PROGRESS) found that whilst perindopril monotherapy demonstrated no significant benefit in reducing recurrent strokes when compared to placebo, the addition of low dose indapamide to perindopril therapy was associated with larger reductions in both blood pressure lowering and recurrent stroke risk in patients with pre-existing cerebrovascular disease, irrespective of their blood pressure. There is evidence to support the use of perindopril and indapamide combination over perindopril monotherapy to prevent strokes and improve mortality in patients with a history of stroke, transient ischaemic attack or other cardiovascular disease. With amlodipine The Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial-Blood Pressure Lowering Arm (ASCOT-BLA) was a 2005 landmark trial that compared the effects of the established therapy of the combination of atenolol and bendroflumethiazide to the new drug combination of amlodipine and perindopril (trade names Viacoram, AceryCal etc.). The study of more than 19 000 patients world-wide was terminated earlier than anticipated because it clearly demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in mortality and cardiovascular outcomes with the newer treatment. The combination of amlodipine and perindopril remains in the current treatment guidelines for hypertension and the outcomes of the ASCOT-BLA trial paved the way for further research into combination therapy and newer agents. Contraindications Children Pregnancy Lactation Situations