According to specialists, a combination of drugs to treat high blood pressure and high cholesterol could avert millions of untimely deaths, heart attacks, and strokes annually.
In the absence of widespread use of simple, low-cost blood pressure-lowering medications, statins, and aspirin in the form of a single tablet known as the polypill, they argue that world health has paid a lethal price.
According to two of the world’s preeminent cardiologists, the widespread availability of medications would greatly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and would be affordable to the majority of the world’s population.
Professor Fausto Pinto, president of the World Heart Federation, stated, “Despite strong scientific proof of the great efficacy, safety, and affordability of the polypill, few such medications are available, and their use is low in the few countries where they are marketed.
Professor Salim Yusuf, executive director of the Population Health Research Institute and Emeritus Professor of Medicine at McMaster University, stated, “This systemic failure is a global tragedy, as many premature deaths from CVD could have been prevented.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency of the United Kingdom has stated that there is currently no licensed polypill available in the country.
It is estimated that 18 million people die annually from cardiovascular diseases, 80 percent of whom reside in low- and middle-income countries, and that three times as many individuals suffer from nonfatal cardiovascular diseases.
The majority of heart attacks and strokes occur in individuals with no history of cardiovascular disease, making primary prevention of the first heart attack or stroke crucial.
Secondary prevention for individuals who already have CVD is vital but does not have the same benefit, according to specialists.
Prof. Yusuf stated, “The existing strategy for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease has only a little effectiveness in the majority of countries, even high-income nations.”
Even in these nations, less than fifty percent of patients with prior CVD and less than twenty percent of those without prior CVD obtain effective preventive therapy.
The polypill, also known as fixed-dose combination therapy, with the combination of blood pressure-lowering medicines, a statin for lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-dose aspirin, was presented in the early 2000s as a low-cost and effective method for reducing cardiovascular disease.
Prof. Yusuf noted that findings from three independent, big, and long-term trials in primary prevention and one in secondary prevention demonstrate the life-saving value of the intervention.
The usage of a polypill reduced heart attacks and strokes by between 35 and 50 percent, according to his numerous papers.
Prof. Pinto stated, “It is time to employ the polypill extensively to save millions of lives annually.”
Researchers recommend that large pharmaceutical corporations invest in the development and testing of polypills.
In addition, they argue that the medicine should be put on the Essential Medicines List of the World Health Organization and that it should be paired with expert-delivered lifestyle counseling for CVD prevention.
The commentary is published in the journal Lancet.
Professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Oxford, Paul Leeson, said, “As the article highlights, there is now robust trial evidence that a polypill approach – in which low doses of several ‘heart protective’ drugs are combined in a single tablet – can reduce the risk of heart disease.”
However, the widely acknowledged science is not the main subject of the paper.
The outcomes of scientific trials alone do not affect the health of individuals or populations.
The true impact will not be realized until new treatments are implemented.
This necessitates that authorities in charge of healthcare delivery in various nations, as well as the people themselves, decide they want to utilize a new treatment.
This is a significantly more complicated decision-making process that encompasses politics, economics, geography, and business in addition to patient behavior and choice.
