Perindopril is a long-acting ACE inhibitor used to treat hypertension, heart failure, or stable coronary artery disease in form of perindopril arginine (trade names include Coversyl, Coversum) or perindopril erbumine (Aceon). According to the Australian government’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme website, based on data provided to the Australian Department of Health and Ageing by the manufacturer, perindopril arginine and perindopril erbumine are therapeutically equivalent and may be interchanged without differences in clinical effect. However, the dose prescribed to achieve the same effect differs due to different molecular weights for the two forms. A prodrug, perindopril is hydrolyzed to its active metabolite, perindoprilat, in the liver.
