A polypill has successfully been used to provide drug treatments after adverse cardiovascular events, a conference has heard.
The pill contained three therapies and was tested in a randomised trial, the conference of the European Society of Cardiology was told.
The trial involved 2,499 patients post-infarction and showed significantly reduced mortality rates, the conference heard. During a three year period, 3.9% of patients taking the polypill died from cardiovascular events compared with 5.8% of those receiving usual care. The average age of the patients was 76 and 77.9% had hypertension, 57.4% diabetes and 51.3% were smokers.
The pill contained aspirin, ramipril and atorvastatin.
The pill was also associated with a 3.5 percentage point reduction in cases of non-fatal myocardial infarction or stroke and the study suggested it improved patient adherence to treatment.
The findings were also published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Researcher Dr Valentin Fuster, of the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares, Madrid, Spain, said: “Most patients are fully adherent after an acute event but this wears off after the first six months. We wanted to have an impact early on, while all patients were adherent. In fact, the majority of patients in the trial were started on the polypill in the first week after their myocardial infarction.
“The findings suggest that a polypill could become an integral part of strategies to prevent cardiovascular events in post-infarction patients. By simplifying treatment and improving adherence, this approach has the potential to reduce the risk of recurrent disease and cardiovascular death on a global scale.”
NEJM 26 August 2022
Leave a Reply