AN all-in-one protective pill for seemingly healthy people was once seen as a wild fantasy. Now a five-drug 鈥減olypill鈥� has produced promising results.
Polypills are designed to prevent and treat multiple components of cardiovascular disease all at once. They are also a lot less hassle than taking lots of pills, so people are more likely to comply. at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, and his colleagues tested Polycap, which contains three drugs to lower blood pressure, a statin and aspirin, for three months in people without cardiovascular disease but with one risk factor for it, such as being overweight or smoking in the last five years.
Polycap seemed just as good at lowering blood pressure, heart rate and blood clotting as giving the blood pressure drugs and aspirin separately (The Lancet, ). The pill also cut cholesterol, though by less than a statin on its own.
Advertisement