Healthy Skepticism Library item: 7997

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Publication type: Journal Article

Tanne JH.
NEJM sees promise in polypill for low and middle income countries
BMJ 2007 Jan 27; 334:(7586):172
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/334/7586/172-a

Full text:

A “perspectives” commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine by a leading Indian cardiologist says that a “polypill” to combat heart disease “would be quite cost-effective in reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease even in low-income and middle-income countries” (New England Journal of Medicine 2007;356:3).

The polypill, a combination of a statin, aspirin, drugs to lower blood pressure, and folic acid, was first proposed by Nicholas Wald and M R Law of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts, and Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of London in the BMJ (2003;326:1419).

In the commentary, Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India and professor of cardiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, says that drugs for primary or secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease have not been widely used even in developed countries.

“Poor adherence to multidrug . . .