Combination ‘Polypill’ Reduces Heart Disease Deaths, Study Finds

A single pill that combines three heart medications significantly reduced the cardiac-related deaths and other heart problems in people who previously had heart attacks, according to new research published by the New England Journal of Medicine.

The paper, “Polypill Strategy in Secondary Cardiovascular Prevention,” says a clinical trial conducted with nearly 2,500 patients in Europe saw a 24% reduction in heart disease-related deaths or further heart problems.

Dr. Valentin Fuster, physician-in-chief at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and the lead author of the study, told a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology in Barcelona, Spain, on Friday that the findings were so exciting that his research team plans to submit their data to the Food and Drug Administration for approval.

The concept of using a polypill containing aspirin, ramipril and atorvastatin to treat heart disease is not new.

Researchers have been looking at it for at least two decades, and an earlier study, published in 2020, found that a polypill combining four medications also significantly cut the risk of first heart attacks and strokes in people who were at risk for such problems.

But the treatment has never gained traction before any of the FDA committees that have considered the risks and benefits of earlier versions of the treatment.

The pill in the new study was made by the Spanish drug maker Ferrer and approved for use in Europe in 2014. Aside from providing the pills, Ferrer played no other role in the study.

The trial was conducted at 113 centers in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary and was overseen by a steering committee and staff members at Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares.

The trial was funded by the European Union Horizon 2020.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue.