A new five-in-one “polypil” could reduce the risk of heart attack one day, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology.

 

The “magic” pill combines three blood pressure lowering drugs at low doses, a statin and aspirin and was tested in an Indian study involving 2,053 patients.

 

“Before this study, there were no data about whether it was even possible to put five active ingredients into a single pill, in terms of feasibility, the biovailability of different agents and possible interactions. We found that it works,” said Salim Yusuf of the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University, who presented the data at the cardiology meeting.

 

Based on the study findings, the polypill could reduce heart disease by 60 percent and stroke by 50 percent.

 

The good news doesn’t end here anyway. The polypill was also well tolerated by participants in the trial and showed no evidence of problems with the increasing number of active ingredients. Moreover, some of the ingredients counteracted side effects of some others, according to Yusuf.

 

However, the polypill should undergo a larger phase-three clinical trial before being approved by the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Christopher P. Cannon, a Harvard cardiologist who was not involved in the study, said.

 

The current findings, as he says, “raise hop that, in conjunction with other global efforts on improving diet and exercise, the polypill could one day substantially reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease in the world.”