Safety profile of perindopril

Approximately 25% of US adults have high blood pressure (BP). Selection of effective and safe antihypertensive therapy for these individuals is an imp ortant health-care priority. High BP can be treated with a wide range of an tihypertensive agents from a number of different classes. These drugs may d iffer in their suitability for administration to different subpopulations o f patients. Results from both clinical trials and postmarketing surveillanc e indicate that the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor perindopr il erbumine is safe and well tolerated in a wide range of patients with hyp ertension. Cough, the most common ACE inhibitor-associated side effect, is also the most common clinical adverse event reported for perindopril, but < 2% of perindopril-treated patients discontinue therapy because of cough. Ot her adverse events often associated with ACE inhibitors, first-dose hypoten sion and hyperkalemia, appear to occur less often with perindopril than wit h other agents in this class. The favorable safety profile for perindopril extends to a wide range of patients, including the elderly and those with e ither heart failure or renal disease. Perindopril has no negative effects o n lipids in patients with hyperlipidemia or on glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and it reduces proteinuria in patients with renal disease. Perindopril has no known clinically significant drug-drug i nteractions. Thus, perindopril is a safe BP-lowering agent with documented tolerability in a wide range of patients with hypertension. (C) 2001 by Exc erpta Medica, Inc.