Polypill may be available in two years

Light the blue touch paper and retreat 5 metres. That's what we did when we published a series of papers suggesting that if everybody started taking a pill containing six ingredients at the age of 55 then deaths from heart disease and stroke would be reduced by 80%. The pill would contain aspirin, a statin, folic acid, and three antihypertensives at half dose. Versions of all the drugs are now off patent, and the pill could be produced for pence. Wild with enthusiasm, I suggested that the issue of the BMJ that published the articles might be the most important for 50 …