NEJM sees promise in polypill for low and middle income countries

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 …