Five-in-one 'polypill' can halve risk of heart disease, says study | The Guardian

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Healthy people who take a cheap five-in-one combination "polypill" of aspirin and cholesterol and blood pressure-­lowering drugs, could slash heart disease and strokes by half, the authors of a study presented yesterday say.

The polypill concept has been around for some years, but the news from the American College of Cardiology annual conference brought it closer to a reality. The combination drug, manufactured cheaply by an Indian generics company, has been tested in 412 volunteers. Others in the trial in 50 centres in India, which included more than 2,000 people, took the blood pressure and cholesterol-­lowering drugs individually.

The object of this early trial, also published online by the Lancet, was to see whether the cocktail of drugs in one pill worked as well as the drugs taken ­separately.

The researchers found that the Polycap, as the pill has been named, reduced blood pressure and heart rate just as effectively. It also lowered cholesterol, but not quite as much as the statin it contains would have done on its own.

Five-in-one 'polypill' can halve risk of heart disease, says study | Society | The Guardian

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