Benazepril is a medication used to treat high blood pressure (hypertension), congestive heart failure, and chronic renal failure. Upon cleavage of its ester group by the liver, benazepril is converted into its active form benazeprilat, a non-sulfhydryl angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor. A long-term study of patients' kidney disease revealed patients who took benazepril had better kidney function and slower progressions of kidney disease than their peers who took a placebo drug. This is notable because this category of pharmaceuticals has long been thought to cause further kidney damage or increase the rate of progression for kidney disease. Benazepril, and perhaps other ACE inhibitors, may actually be beneficial in the treatment of hypertension in patients with kidney disease. Benazepril should be discontinued during pregnancy.
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