By: Thomas Pickering, MD, DPhil, FRCP, Director of Integrative and Behavioral Cardiology Program
of the Cardiovascular Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York.

Aceon is an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, which is approved for the treatment of high blood pressure. Like other ACE inhibitors, it works by blocking the enzyme which converts angiotensin I (an inert substance) to angiotensin II, a hormone which constricts blood vessels and stimulates the release of another hormone called aldosterone, which makes the kidney retain sodium. Both of these effects will tend to raise the blood pressure, so that blocking the formation of angiotensin II will lower the pressure.

Perindopril resembles other ACE inhibitors in it s ability to lower blood pressure. It is a 'pro-drug', which means that it does not become active until it is converted into perindoprilat, which occurs a few hours after the drug is administered. It is effective in once daily dosage. The available strengths are 2, 4 , and 8 milligram tablets. The usual dose is 4 to 16 mgs a day. Like other ACE inhibitors, its main side effect is a dry cough, which occurs in about 10% of patients.

Perindopril is currently being used in a large multinational study called PRAISE, which is designed to see whether adding an ACE inhibitor to the treatment of people who have already had one stroke will help stop them having another.