Free medication list of ACE inhibitors

Key takeaways

ACE inhibitors block angiotensin-converting enzyme, which relaxes blood vessels and lowers blood pressure.

Lisinopril, enalapril, ramipril, and benazepril are the agents you will meet most often in primary care.

Captopril starts at 25 mg three times daily for hypertension, with 6.25 to 12.5 mg reserved for at-risk patients.

A dry cough affects 5 to 10 percent of users, and it is the usual reason to move a patient to an ARB.

Practice management software like Pabau keeps the current dose in the patient record and schedules the potassium and creatinine rechecks.

Eight ACE inhibitors are in routine use across US practices, and each one carries its own starting dose, titration range, and approved indications. That detail sits in eight separate package inserts, which is why prescribers end up searching on a phone mid-consultation.

This page pulls all eight into one table you can download and print. The sections below cover what a table cannot hold. That means the reason behind the cough, the patients who should never receive this class, and the labs to recheck after a dose change.

What an ACE inhibitor reference list includes

A reference list of this kind organizes every major angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor into one scannable table. Each row carries the generic name, the brand names, the adult dosing range, and the FDA-approved indications.

The value is speed. ACE inhibitors are first-line antihypertensive agents, so dosing questions come up constantly. They surface during reconciliation, during a switch between agents, and whenever a patient asks what their tablet actually does.

The FDA approves each ACE inhibitor through a New Drug Application, and every label sets its own indications, contraindications, and warnings. Off-label use is common and defensible, but it belongs in the record as a deliberate decision. A current reference keeps your documentation aligned with the labeling an auditor will read.

How to use the list during patient care

The table is built for speed rather than study. Five uses cover most of what a practice needs from it.

1. During the consultation: Keep a copy on the desk or on a tablet. When a patient asks about their tablet, its dose, or its side effects, the answer is one glance away.
2. During reconciliation: Compare what the patient reports against the table. A scheduled medication review is the natural place to check that names, doses, and indications still line up.
3. Alongside prescribing: Pair the table with your prescription management software, then record the dosing decision in the clinical note as you make it.
4. When screening interactions: A new NSAID, diuretic, or potassium supplement changes the risk picture. Check the interactions below before the prescription goes out.
5. Once a year: Approvals and availability shift. Review the FDA labeling each January, and update your local copy if an agent is added or withdrawn.

The list works hardest when it sits where the team already works, so pharmacists, nurses, and physicians all read the same version.

How ACE inhibitors work

ACE inhibitors act on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, the loop that governs blood pressure and fluid balance. Four steps run that loop.

1. The kidney releases renin when blood pressure falls.
2. Renin converts angiotensinogen into angiotensin I.
3. ACE converts angiotensin I into angiotensin II, a potent vasoconstrictor.
4. Angiotensin II narrows blood vessels, and blood pressure rises.

An ACE inhibitor interrupts the third step. With less angiotensin II in circulation, vessels relax and pressure falls. The heart works against less resistance, and kidney disease in diabetes progresses more slowly.

Complete medication list of ACE inhibitors

Below are the FDA-approved ACE inhibitors used in US practice, with generic names, brand names, and dosing. The ranges reflect current labeling for hypertension. Heart failure and post-MI use often follow different titration schedules under ACC/AHA guidance.

Renally impaired patients, meaning an eGFR under 30 mL/min, usually need a reduced dose. Check the current prescribing information and the patient’s renal function before you prescribe.

FDA-approved uses

Hypertension: First-line therapy for elevated blood pressure, and particularly useful in patients with diabetes or chronic kidney disease. Send the patient home with a blood pressure log so the follow-up visit has numbers behind it.

Heart failure: Lisinopril, enalapril, and ramipril reduce mortality and hospitalization in symptomatic heart failure, NYHA Class II to IV. ACC/AHA guidelines treat them as foundational therapy.

Post-MI cardioprotection: Ramipril and lisinopril cut long-term mortality and limit left ventricular remodeling after a myocardial infarction. Treatment usually starts within 24 hours if the patient is stable, then continues long term.

Diabetic nephropathy: The class slows the decline in glomerular filtration rate and reduces albuminuria in Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Captopril was the first ACE inhibitor approved specifically for this use.

Side effects to counsel patients about

Dry persistent cough: The most common complaint, affecting roughly 5 to 10 percent of users. Bradykinin accumulates in the lungs and triggers it. The cough settles within weeks of stopping, and switching to an ARB is standard practice when a patient cannot live with it.

Angioedema: Rare, at 0.1 to 0.2 percent, but serious swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat. It is more common in Black patients and in anyone with a prior episode. Stop the drug immediately and send the patient for emergency care.

Hyperkalemia: ACE inhibitors reduce aldosterone, so potassium is retained. The risk climbs in renal impairment, in diabetes, and alongside potassium-sparing diuretics, NSAIDs, or supplements. Take a baseline potassium level and recheck it periodically.

Dizziness and syncope: Most likely on the first dose or after an increase, especially in volume-depleted patients or those already on a diuretic. Tell patients to stand up slowly for the first week.

Warnings, contraindications, and precautions

Pregnancy, second and third trimester: ACE inhibitors cause fetal renal dysgenesis, oligohydramnios, and death, so they are strictly contraindicated. Patients of childbearing age need reliable contraception, or a switch to methyldopa or labetalol if they are planning a pregnancy.

Renal artery stenosis: The class can precipitate acute renal failure in bilateral stenosis, or in stenosis affecting a solitary kidney. Screen with renal artery ultrasound or CT angiography where suspicion is high, such as repeated kidney injury on treatment or abdominal bruits.

Severe renal impairment: Reduce the dose below an eGFR of 30 mL/min/1.73m². Check serum creatinine and potassium within one to two weeks of starting or increasing the dose.

Documentation: Record the indication, the baseline potassium and creatinine, and the date of the next lab check in the patient record. That trail is what a covering clinician or an auditor needs to see.

Read together, the warnings and interactions sort into three actions. The panel below shows which trigger leads to which one.

Drug interactions to monitor

NSAIDs, including ibuprofen and naproxen: They blunt the blood pressure effect and raise the risk of acute renal failure and hyperkalemia. Use them cautiously, and counsel patients against routine over-the-counter use.

Potassium-sparing diuretics, such as spironolactone and amiloride: The hyperkalemia risk is additive. Monitor serum potassium closely if the combination is necessary, or move to a thiazide where that works clinically.

Lithium: ACE inhibitors reduce lithium clearance, which raises the risk of toxicity. Monitor lithium levels and renal function, and consider a dose reduction when you add the ACE inhibitor.

Angiotensin receptor blockers: Combining the two classes does not improve outcomes over one agent alone, and it raises hyperkalemia and renal failure risk. Avoid the combination without a compelling cardiology indication.

ACE inhibitors vs ARBs: Key clinical differences

Both classes reduce angiotensin II signaling, but they do it at different points and carry different side effects.

ARBs are the obvious alternative when the cough becomes intolerable. ACE inhibitors still lead in heart failure and after a myocardial infarction, where the outcome evidence is stronger. Do not run the two classes together without specific cardiology guidance.

Where the list fits in your practice’s systems

A reference only earns its place if the team reaches for it. Five steps put it in the path of the work.

Step 1: Store it with the records. Upload the PDF to the patient records area of your practice system. Teams running hypertension reviews at volume, from direct primary care to practices on GP clinic software, keep it beside the prescribing guidelines.

Step 2: Print a copy for each exam room. A laminated card beats a database search when the patient is sitting in front of you. One or two pages is enough.

Step 3: Mark up your formulary. If your practice or health system restricts agents, annotate the list with the preferred ones. Lisinopril, enalapril, and ramipril are usually the cheapest generics.

Step 4: Brief the wider team. Medical assistants and nurses should know the red flags. Those are pregnancy status, baseline potassium, renal function, and any NSAID, diuretic, or lithium already on the chart.

Step 5: Schedule the recheck. Automated workflow reminders can prompt a potassium and creatinine test one to two weeks after starting or changing a dose. That catches quiet hyperkalemia early.

How Pabau keeps the current dose in the patient record

In most practices the drug reference and the patient record live apart. The PDF sits on a shared drive, the prescription sits in the chart, and the potassium recheck sits in someone’s head. Each handover is a chance for one of the three to drift.

Practice management software like Pabau closes that distance. Prescribing, clinical notes, and lab results share one record, so the dose a patient takes today sits next to their last creatinine result. Reminders for the recheck are scheduled the moment the dose changes.

The result is a shorter review and a cleaner audit trail. The clinician opens one screen and sees the current dose, the indication, and the monitoring history. Nobody has to reconstruct why a dose changed 18 months ago.

Keep prescribing and monitoring in one record

Pabau brings prescriptions, clinical notes, and lab results into a single patient record, and schedules the potassium and creatinine rechecks that follow a dose change. Your team stops tracking follow-ups from memory.

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Conclusion

The table answers the dosing question. The harder calls come after it, when you decide who should never start this class and how quickly the labs need rechecking.

Download the reference, keep it where prescriptions get written, and put the two-week recheck on a schedule instead of in your memory. That one habit prevents most of the potassium and creatinine surprises this class produces.

Book a demo to see how Pabau holds the prescription, the indication, and the monitoring history in one patient record.

Continue your research

Reviewing a patient’s whole regimen rather than one class? The medication review template structures the reconciliation and records what changed.

Need the numbers behind a dose change? A blood pressure log gives the patient a simple record to bring to the follow-up visit.

Checking whether a reading is on target? The normal blood pressure chart sets out the thresholds by category.

Prescribing for heart failure rather than hypertension? The congestive heart failure nursing care plan covers the monitoring and education tasks around it.

Frequently asked questions