Statin and Blood Pressure Drug Polypill Excels

A polypill that blends blood pressure treatments with a cholesterol-lowering statin might have the potential to stop thousands of strokes and heart attacks every single year, researchers say.

The statement comes off the back of a trial involving 84 patients, all of them aged over 50. The trial's results confirmed that the polypill both lowered blood pressure levels and reduced bad cholesterol levels. Therefore, state those behind the study, there's a strong case for the combo drug to be made available to patients as soon as possible.

The British Heart Foundation, however, wants additional research to be carried out and has stressed that no pill can substitute for a healthy lifestyle.

Polypill Drug Combo Study

The polypill drug combo study was carried out at Queen Mary, University of London. Supplied to the patients that took part were a polypill or a placebo and, in each case, the treatment period lasted for three months.

Then, after that, the patients that were given the polypill were given the placebo and vice-versa and, again, the treatment period was three months.

Overall, the polypill demonstrated that it could bring about an average blood pressure reduction of 12 per cent and a cholesterol reduction of no less than 39 per cent.

Statin and Blood Pressure Drug

"The health implications of our results are large", Doctor David Wald stated in comments on the statin and blood pressure drug blend quoted by the BBC. "If people took the polypill from age 50, an estimated 28 per cent would benefit by avoiding or delaying a heart attack or stroke during their lifetime.

"Research into polypills is encouraging, but there are still many questions to answer before this 'wonder drug' is prescribed by doctors", Natasha Stewart from the British Heart Foundation added.

"This research only studied a very small number of people, so we'd need to see further large scale trials on a wider population to get more detailed results. However interesting this potential new pill is, medicines are not a substitute for living a healthy lifestyle."