Study: Heart ‘Polypill’ Effective, Safe

A “polypill” combining five medicines for heart disease works as well as the drugs taken separately, a study has found. And side effects were no greater, researchers said. The pill is called Polycap. It combines three blood pressure medicines, aspirin and a statin to lower cholesterol. About 2,000 people were divided into groups of 200. Some received Polycap. Others were given some or all of its components as separate pills. Polycap alone dropped blood pressure as much as the three blood pressure pills alone. LDL (“bad”) cholesterol dropped 23% with Polycap and 28% with the statin. The study was presented at a conference. It was published online by the journal Lancet. The Associated Press wrote about it March 30.