Polypill cuts cardio-vascular diseases by half in Indian patients (brand name Polycap)

But critics doubt the logic of the 5-drug combination.

Polypill, a combination of 5 common drugs, can cut cardiovascular diseases atleast by 50 per cent, according to a study conducted on Indian patients.

The single pill, which bundles lower doses of the five of the most commonly used drugs to treat high blood pressure and other related heart conditions, is also seen safer –or with no major side-effects– compared with when the component medications are used individually. 

Polypill was tested on over 2,000 Indians aged 48-80 years at 50 centres across India. The people who underwent the study did not have the history of any  heart disease. But all of them had a single risk factor like high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity or smoking.

Results from the study using polypill for 12 weeks concluded that it would reduce the risk of heart disease by 62 per cent and stroke by 48 percent.

Polypill was also found reducing both blood pressure and cholesterol without any major side effects.

These findings were presented  at the cardiology college’s conference in Florida and published online by the British medical journal Lancet.

The Indo-Canadian study on the effectiveness of polypill for preventing cardio-vascular diseases was led by Salim Yusuf of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and Prem Pais of St. John’s Medical College in Bangalore.

The experimental five-in-one pill named ‘Polycap” was formulated by Cadila Pharmaceuticals, a leading generic company from Ahmedabad, Western India.

Polycap combines a atenolol (a beta-blocker), thiazide (a diuretic),ramipril (an ACE inhibitor), simvastatin (cholesterol-lowering drug) and aspirin ( a blood thinning drug). All these medications are usually prescribed individually.

“Before our study, there was no data about whether it was even possible to put five active ingredients into a single pill — in terms of feasibility, the bio availability of different agents and possible interactions, but we found that it works,” said the researchers. “And side effects were no different than when taking one or two medications,” they added.

Polypill / Polycap is estimated to cost a person about Rs 1000 ($ 20) a year, a very affordable price indeed.

‘‘The polypill would be a good substitute for patients who have been on heart medication for long. Since their bodies would have adapted to these medicines, it would be easier to titrate their dosage by putting them on the polypill,’’ Dr Ashok Seth of Max Devki Devi Heart and Vascular institute.

Following the study reports, New Zealand and seven other countries are also reportedly recruiting four hundred participants to trial a similar combination pill for cardio-vascular diseases in a pilot study beginning this year.

In case the international trials of the five-drug combinations are successful, ‘‘it would be a landmark in cardiovascular disease prevention since we can then claim to have a product that can halve cardiovascular risk.’’ If that happens, it might just be a question of popping a pill to keep heart attack away, say experts.

Reports also indicate that this Polypill should be part of President Obama’s health care reform plan as well, quoting Dr Robert Harrington, spokesperson for the American College of Cardiology. 

While several of such experts laud polypill as “a dream for a decade,” a good number of researchers question the the very scientific basis of such a combination.

 ”What do you get when you combine cholesterol medication, three different blood pressure drugs and aspirin into a single pharmaceutical pill? If you believe the drug company that funded its own study on this chemical cocktail, you get a wonder drug that has all the “benefits” of five different drugs with no more side effects than a single drug!”, they wonder.

Dr Reddy’s, another major generic company from India, is also reportedly working on such a polypill for treating cardio-vascular diseases.