1.1 Hypertension

ACEON is indicated for the treatment of patients with essential hypertension. ACEON may be used alone or given with other classes of antihypertensives, especially thiazide diuretics.

1.2 Stable Coronary Artery Disease

ACEON is indicated for treatment of patients with stable coronary artery disease to reduce the risk of cardiovascular mortality or nonfatal myocardial infarction. ACEON can be used with conventional treatment for management of coronary artery disease, such as antiplatelet, antihypertensive or lipid-lowering therapy.

2.1 Hypertension

2.2 Stable Coronary Artery Disease

In patients with stable coronary artery disease, ACEON should be given at an initial dose of 4 mg once daily for 2 weeks, and then increased as tolerated, to a maintenance dose of 8 mg once daily. In elderly patients (greater than 70 years), ACEON should be given as a 2 mg dose once daily in the first week, followed by 4 mg once daily in the second week and 8 mg once daily for maintenance dose if tolerated.

2.3 Dose Adjustment in Renal Impairment and Dialysis

Perindoprilat elimination is decreased in renally impaired patients. ACEON is not recommended in patients with creatinine clearance <30 mL/min. For patients with lesser degrees of impairment, the initial dosage should be 2 mg/day and dosage should not exceed 8 mg/day. During dialysis, perindopril is removed with the same clearance as in patients with normal renal function.

5.1 Anaphylactoid and Possibly Related Reactions

Presumably because angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors affect the metabolism of eicosanoids and polypeptides, including endogenous bradykinin, patients receiving ACE inhibitors (including ACEON) may be subject to a variety of adverse events, some of them serious. Black patients receiving ACE inhibitors have a higher incidence of angioedema compared to nonblacks.

5.2 Hypotension

ACEON can cause symptomatic hypotension. ACEON has been associated with hypotension in 0.3% of uncomplicated hypertensive patients in U.S. placebo-controlled trials. Symptoms related to orthostatic hypotension were reported in another 0.8% of patients.

Symptomatic hypotension is most likely to occur in patients who have been volume or salt-depleted as a result of prolonged diuretic therapy, dietary salt restriction, dialysis, diarrhea or vomiting [see Dosage and Administration (2.1)].

ACE inhibitors may cause excessive hypotension, and may be associated with oliguria or azotemia, and rarely with acute renal failure and death. In patients with ischemic heart disease or cerebrovascular disease, an excessive fall in blood pressure could result in a myocardial infarction or a cerebrovascular accident.

In patients at risk of excessive hypotension, ACEON therapy should be started under very close medical supervision. Patients should be followed closely for the first two weeks of treatment and whenever the dose of ACEON and/or diuretic is increased.

If excessive hypotension occurs, the patient should be placed immediately in a supine position and, if necessary, treated with an intravenous infusion of physiological saline. ACEON treatment can usually be continued following restoration of volume and blood pressure.

5.3 Neutropenia/Agranulocytosis

ACE inhibitors have been associated with agranulocytosis and bone marrow depression, most frequently in patients with renal impairment, especially patients with a collagen vascular disease such as systemic lupus erythematosus or scleroderma.

5.4 Fetal/Neonatal Morbidity and Mortality

ACE inhibitors can cause fetal and neonatal morbidity and death when administered to pregnant women. Several dozen cases have been reported in the world literature. When pregnancy is detected, ACE inhibitors should be discontinued as soon as possible.

The use of ACE inhibitors during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy has been associated with fetal and neonatal injury, including hypotension, neonatal skull hypoplasia, anuria, reversible or irreversible renal failure and death. Oligohydramnios has also been reported, presumably resulting from decreased fetal renal function; oligohydramnios in this setting has been associated with fetal limb contractures, craniofacial deformation and hypoplastic lung development.

Prematurity, intrauterine growth retardation, patent ductus arteriosus, and other structural cardiac malformations, as well as neurologic malformations, have been reported following exposure to ACE inhibitors during the first trimester of pregnancy.

When patients become pregnant, healthcare providers should make every effort to discontinue the use of ACEON as soon as possible. Rarely (probably less often than once in every thousand pregnancies), no alternative to ACE inhibitors will be found. In these rare cases, the mothers should be apprised of the potential hazards to their fetuses, and serial ultrasound examinations should be performed to assess the intra-amniotic environment.

If oligohydramnios is observed, ACEON should be discontinued unless it is considered life-saving for the mother. Contraction stress testing (CST), a non-stress test (NST) or biophysical profiling (BPP) may be appropriate, depending upon the week of pregnancy. Patients and healthcare providers should be aware, however, that oligohydramnios may not appear until after the fetus has sustained irreversible injury.

Infants with histories of in utero exposure to ACE inhibitors should be closely observed for hypotension, oliguria and hyperkalemia. If oliguria occurs, attention should be directed toward support of blood pressure and renal perfusion. Exchange transfusion or dialysis may be required as a means of reversing hypotension and/or substituting for disordered renal function. Perindopril, which crosses the placenta, can theoretically be removed from the neonatal circulation by these means, but limited experience has not shown that such removal is central to the treatment of these infants.

5.5 Impaired Renal Function

As a consequence of inhibiting the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, changes in renal function may be anticipated in susceptible individuals. Renal function should be monitored periodically in patients receiving ACEON [see Dosage and Administration (2.3)].

In patients with severe congestive heart failure, where renal function may depend on the activity of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, treatment with ACE inhibitors, including ACEON, may be associated with oliguria, progressive azotemia, and, rarely, acute renal failure and death.

In hypertensive patients with unilateral or bilateral renal artery stenosis, increases in blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine may occur; usually reversible upon discontinuation of the ACE inhibitor . In such patients, renal function should be monitored during the first few weeks of therapy.

Some ACEON-treated patients have developed minor and transient increases in blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine especially in those concomitantly treated with a diuretic.

5.6 Hyperkalemia

Elevations of serum potassium have been observed in some patients treated with ACE inhibitors, including ACEON. Most cases were isolated single values that did not appear clinically relevant and were rarely a cause for withdrawal. Risk factors for the development of hyperkalemia include renal insufficiency, diabetes mellitus and the concomitant use of agents such as potassium-sparing diuretics, potassium supplements and/or potassium-containing salt substitutes [see Drug Interactions (7.2)].

Serum potassium should be monitored periodically in patients receiving ACEON.

5.7 Cough

Presumably because of the inhibition of the degradation of endogenous bradykinin, persistent nonproductive cough has been reported with all ACE inhibitors, generally resolving after discontinuation of therapy. Consider ACE inhibitor-induced cough in the differential diagnosis of cough.

5.8 Hepatic Failure

Rarely, ACE inhibitors have been associated with a syndrome that starts with cholestatic jaundice and progresses to fulminant hepatic necrosis and sometimes death. The mechanism of this syndrome is not understood. Patients receiving ACE inhibitors who develop jaundice or marked elevations of hepatic enzymes should discontinue the ACE inhibitor and receive appropriate medical follow-up.

5.9 Surgery/Anesthesia

In patients undergoing surgery or during anesthesia with agents that produce hypotension, ACEON may block angiotensin II formation that would otherwise occur secondary to compensatory renin release. Hypotension attributable to this mechanism can be corrected by volume expansion.

6.1 Clinical Trials Experience

The following adverse reactions are discussed elsewhere in labeling:

• Anaphylactoid reactions, including angioedema [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1)]

• Hypotension [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2)]

• Neutropenia and agranulocytosis [see Warnings and Precautions (5.3)]

• Impaired renal function [see Warnings and Precautions (5.5)]

• Hyperkalemia [see Warnings and Precautions (5.6)]

• Cough [see Warnings and Precautions (5.7)]

Hypertension

ACEON has been evaluated for safety in approximately 3,400 patients with hypertension in U.S. and foreign clinical trials. The data presented here are based on results from the 1,417 ACEON-treated patients who participated in the U.S. clinical trials. Over 220 of these patients were treated with ACEON for at least one year.

In placebo-controlled U.S. clinical trials, the incidence of premature discontinuation of therapy due to adverse events was 6.5% in patients treated with ACEON and 6.7% in patients treated with placebo. The most common causes were cough, headache, asthenia and dizziness.

Among 1,012 patients in placebo-controlled U.S. trials, the overall frequency of reported adverse events was similar in patients treated with ACEON and in those treated with placebo (approximately 75% in each group). The only adverse events whose incidence on ACEON was at least 2% greater than on placebo were cough (12% vs. 4.5%) and back pain (5.8% vs. 3.1%).

Dizziness was not reported more frequently in the perindopril group (8.2%) than in the placebo group (8.5%), but its likelihood increased with dose, suggesting a causal relationship with perindopril.

6.2 Postmarketing Experience

Voluntary reports of adverse events in patients taking ACEON that have been received since market introduction and are of unknown causal relationship to ACEON include: cardiac arrest, eosinophilic pneumonitis, neutropenia/agranulocytosis, pancytopenia, anemia (including hemolytic and aplastic), thrombocytopenia, acute renal failure, nephritis, hepatic failure, jaundice (hepatocellular or cholestatic), symptomatic hyponatremia, bullous pemphigoid, pemphigus, acute pancreatitis, falls, psoriasis, exfoliative dermatitis and a syndrome which may include: arthralgia/arthritis, vasculitis, serositis, myalgia, fever, rash or other dermatologic manifestations, a positive antinuclear antibody (ANA), leukocytosis, eosinophilia or an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR).

6.3 Clinical Laboratory Test Findings

7.1 Diuretics

Patients on diuretics, and especially those started recently, may occasionally experience an excessive reduction of blood pressure after initiation of ACEON therapy. The possibility of hypotensive effects can be minimized by either decreasing the dose of or discontinuing the diuretic or increasing the salt intake prior to initiation of treatment with perindopril. If diuretic therapy cannot be altered, provide close medical supervision with the first dose of ACEON, for at least two hours and until blood pressure has stabilized for another hour [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2)].

The rate and extent of perindopril absorption and elimination are not affected by concomitant diuretics. The bioavailability of perindoprilat was reduced by diuretics, however, and this was associated with a decrease in plasma ACE inhibition.

7.2 Potassium Supplements and Potassium-Sparing Diuretics

ACEON may increase serum potassium because of its potential to decrease aldosterone production. Use of potassium-sparing diuretics (spironolactone, amiloride, triamterene and others), potassium supplements or other drugs capable of increasing serum potassium (indomethacin, heparin, cyclosporine and others) can increase the risk of hyperkalemia. Therefore, if concomitant use of such agents is indicated, monitor the patient's serum potassium frequently.

7.3 Lithium

Increased serum lithium and symptoms of lithium toxicity have been reported in patients receiving concomitant lithium and ACE inhibitor therapy. Frequent monitoring of serum lithium concentration is recommended. Use of a diuretic may further increase the risk of lithium toxicity.

7.4 Gold

Nitritoid reactions (symptoms include facial flushing, nausea, vomiting and hypotension) have been reported rarely in patients on therapy with injectable gold (sodium aurothiomalate) and concomitant ACE Inhibitor therapy including ACEON.

7.5 Digoxin

A controlled pharmacokinetic study has shown no effect on plasma digoxin concentrations when coadministered with ACEON, but an effect of digoxin on the plasma concentration of perindopril/perindoprilat has not been excluded.

7.6 Gentamicin

Animal data have suggested the possibility of interaction between perindopril and gentamicin. However, this has not been investigated in human studies.

7.7 Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Agents including Selective Cyclooxygenase-2 Inhibitors (COX-2 Inhibitors)

In patients who are elderly, volume-depleted (including those on diuretic therapy), or with compromised renal function, co-administration of NSAIDs, including selective COX-2 inhibitors, with ACE inhibitors, including perindopril, may result in deterioration of renal function, including possible acute renal failure. These effects are usually reversible. Monitor renal function periodically in patients receiving perindopril and NSAID therapy.

The antihypertensive effect of ACE inhibitors, including perindopril, may be attenuated by NSAIDs including selective COX-2 inhibitors.

8.1 Pregnancy

Pregnancy Category D [see Boxed Warning and Warnings and Precautions (5.4)]. Radioactivity was detectable in fetuses after administration of 14C-perindopril to pregnant rats.

8.3 Nursing Mothers

Milk of lactating rats contained radioactivity following administration of 14C-perindopril. It is not known whether perindopril is secreted in human milk. Because many drugs are secreted in human milk, caution should be exercised when ACEON is given to nursing mothers.

8.4 Pediatric Use

Safety and effectiveness of ACEON in pediatric patients have not been established.

8.5 Geriatric Use

The mean blood pressure effect of perindopril was somewhat smaller in patients over 60 than in younger patients, although the difference was not significant. Plasma concentrations of both perindopril and perindoprilat were increased in elderly patients compared to concentrations in younger patients. No adverse effects were clearly increased in older patients with the exception of dizziness and possibly rash.

Start at a low dose and titrate slowly as needed. Monitor for dizziness because of potential for falls.

Experience with ACEON in elderly patients at daily doses exceeding 8 mg is limited.

8.6 Renal Impairment

Dosage adjustment may be necessary in renally impaired patients [see Dosage and Administration (2.3) and Clinical Pharmacology (12.3)].

8.7 Hepatic Impairment

The bioavailability of perindoprilat is increased in patients with impaired hepatic function [see Clinical Pharmacology (12.3)].

12.1 Mechanism of Action

ACEON is a pro-drug for perindoprilat, which inhibits ACE in human subjects and animals. The mechanism through which perindoprilat lowers blood pressure is believed to be primarily inhibition of ACE activity. ACE is a peptidyl dipeptidase that catalyzes conversion of the inactive decapeptide, angiotensin I, to the vasoconstrictor, angiotensin II. Angiotensin II is a potent peripheral vasoconstrictor, which stimulates aldosterone secretion by the adrenal cortex, and provides negative feedback on renin secretion. Inhibition of ACE results in decreased plasma angiotensin II, leading to decreased vasoconstriction, increased plasma renin activity and decreased aldosterone secretion. The latter results in diuresis and natriuresis and may be associated with a small increase of serum potassium.

ACE is identical to kininase II, an enzyme that degrades bradykinin. Whether increased levels of bradykinin, a potent vasodepressor peptide, play a role in the therapeutic effects of ACEON remains to be elucidated.

While the principal mechanism of perindopril in blood pressure reduction is believed to be through the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, ACE inhibitors have some effect even in apparent low-renin hypertension. Perindopril has been studied in relatively few black patients, usually a low-renin population, and the average response of diastolic blood pressure to perindopril was about half the response seen in nonblack patients, a finding consistent with previous experience of other ACE inhibitors.

12.2 Pharmacodynamics

After administration of perindopril, ACE is inhibited in a dose and blood concentration-related fashion, with the maximal inhibition of 80 to 90% attained by 8 mg persisting for 10 to 12 hours. Twenty-four hour ACE inhibition is about 60% after these doses. The degree of ACE inhibition achieved by a given dose appears to diminish over time (the ID50 increases). The pressor response to an angiotensin I infusion is reduced by perindopril, but this effect is not as persistent as the effect on ACE; there is about 35% inhibition at 24 hours after a 12 mg dose.

12.3 Pharmacokinetics

13.1 Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility

14.1 Hypertension

In placebo-controlled studies of perindopril monotherapy (2 mg to 16 mg once daily) in patients with a mean blood pressure of about 150/100 mm Hg, 2 mg had little effect, but doses of 4 mg to 16 mg lowered blood pressure. The 8 mg and 16 mg doses were indistinguishable, and both had a greater effect than the 4 mg dose. In these studies, doses of 8 mg and 16 mg per day gave supine, trough blood pressure reductions of 9 to 15/5 to 6 mm Hg. When once daily and twice daily dosing were compared, the twice daily dosing regimen was generally slightly superior, but by not more than about 0.5 mm Hg to 1 mm Hg. After 2 mg to 16 mg doses of perindopril, the trough mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure effects were about 75 to 100% of peak effects.

Perindopril's effects on blood pressure were similar when given alone or on a background of 25 mg hydrochlorothiazide In general, the effect of perindopril occurred promptly, with effects increasing slightly over several weeks.

Formal interaction studies of ACEON have not been carried out with antihypertensive agents other than thiazides. Limited experience in controlled and uncontrolled trials coadministering ACEON with a calcium channel blocker, a loop diuretic or triple therapy (beta-blocker, vasodilator and a diuretic), does not suggest any unexpected interactions. In general, ACE inhibitors have less than additive effects when given with beta-adrenergic blockers, presumably because both work in part through the renin angiotensin system.

In uncontrolled studies in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes, perindopril did not appear to affect glycemic control. In long-term use, no effect on urinary protein excretion was seen in these patients.

The effectiveness of ACEON was not influenced by sex and it was less effective in black patients than in nonblack patients. In elderly patients (greater than or equal to 60 years), the mean blood pressure effect was somewhat smaller than in younger patients, although the difference was not significant.

14.2 Stable Coronary Artery Disease

The EURopean trial On reduction of cardiac events with Perindopril in stable coronary Artery disease (EUROPA) was a multicenter, randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study conducted in 12,218 patients who had evidence of stable coronary artery disease without clinical heart failure. Patients had evidence of coronary artery disease documented by previous myocardial infarction more than 3 months before screening, coronary revascularization more than 6 months before screening, angiographic evidence of stenosis (at least 70% narrowing of one or more major coronary arteries), or positive stress test in men with a history of chest pain. After a run-in period of 4 weeks during which all patients received perindopril 2 mg to 8 mg, the patients were randomly assigned to perindopril 8 mg once daily (n=6,110) or matching placebo (n=6,108). The mean follow-up was 4.2 years. The study examined the long-term effects of perindopril on time to first event of cardiovascular mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or cardiac arrest in patients with stable coronary artery disease.

The mean age of patients was 60 years; 85% were male, 92% were taking platelet inhibitors, 63% were taking β blockers, and 56% were taking lipid-lowering therapy. The EUROPA study showed that perindopril significantly reduced the relative risk for the primary endpoint events (Table 1). This beneficial effect is largely attributable to a reduction in the risk of nonfatal myocardial infarction. This beneficial effect of perindopril on the primary outcome was evident after about one year of treatment (Figure 1). The outcome was similar across all predefined subgroups by age, underlying disease or concomitant medication (Figure 2).

Figure 1. Time to First Occurrence of Primary Endpoint

Figure 2. Beneficial Effect of Perindopril Treatment on Primary Endpoint
in Predefined Subgroups