Remember the polypill? Well…it's baaack!

Multiple Heart Drugs in One Pill

Would you take a drug for high blood pressure if you had normal blood pressure? If your cholesterol levels were completely normal, would you be open to the idea of taking a cholesterol-lowering statin drug?

If you think the answers to both of those questions are glaringly obvious, then you’re obviously not one of the health “experts” associated with the World Heart Federation (WHF).

According to a recent Associated Press (AP) article, the WHF kicked off a promotional initiative that will eventually launch the polypill, a nickname given to a 3-in-1 heart disease medication that apparently hasn’t yet been given a real name.

I first told you about this “wonder drug” more than three years ago in the e-Alert “With A Capital T, That Rhymes With P” (6/30/03). The polypill combines a statin drug, an ACE inhibitor (for lowering blood pressure), and aspirin.

The original idea, as conceived by two professors at the University of London, was that everyone over the age of 55 should be advised to take a daily polypill for the rest of their lives. Between then and now, it appears that someone convinced them to drop that wildly overreaching world domination master plan. When WHF representatives officially introduced the concept of the polypill at the recent World Congress of Cardiology, the strategy was a little more realistic: It will be recommended only for people with a known history of heart disease.

Seems pretty simple. And it is. In fact, it’s ridiculously simple – with emphasis on the ridiculous.

Side effects buffet

When you combine a statin with an ACE inhibitor and aspirin, you’re also combining potential side effects equal to a nest of snakes. According to information from WebMD, here’s a sampling of known side effects:

• Statins: kidney damage, liver damage, muscle pain, weakness, joint pain, headache, diarrhea, stomach/abdominal pain

• ACE inhibitors: persistent cough, dizziness, skin rash, swelling of face and throat, loss of sense of taste, and birth defects when used by pregant women as early as the first trimester

• Aspirin (a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug): stomach and intestinal bleeding, easy bruising, hearing difficulty, ringing in the ears, nausea, tiredness and dizziness
  

Of course, not everyone experiences these side effects, but some experience them profoundly. In the AP article, Dr. Freek Verheugt, chairman of a heart center at a university hospital in Holland, noted that when the benefits of the polypill are weighed against the side effects, the widespread distribution of the medicaiton wouldn’t lessen the load on the public health system.

And here’s an interesting little note I found on WebMD: “Over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications like [ibuprofen] and aspirin may cause the body to retain sodium and water, and decrease the effect of an ACE inhibitor.”

So if you’re looking for a blood pressure drug, polypill might actually be one of the WORST things you could take.

Easy Street

Here’s my favorite line in the AP article: “The pill might also make life easier for doctors.” Frosting on the cake! Cardiologist Gabriel Steg, M.D., told AP that he prescribes ACE inhibitors and statins so often that, “I might as well have a stamp when writing prescriptions for some of my heart patients.”

That’s a beautiful description of modern medicine as an effortless type of assembly line work. Just match the pill with the symptom, enjoy the free lunch provided by a friendly drug salesperson, and then head out to the golf course.

When you’re marketing a new drug, one of the first things you have to do is sell it to doctors. So if your up-and-coming drug promises to make doctors happy, and if you’ve got solid WHF sponsorship in your corner, then it appears you’re well along the way in grooming your drug for superstar status.

Stay tuned. You can be sure there’s much more to come in the polypill saga.

Sources:
“3-in-1 Heart Pill Could Save Millions” Maria Cheng, The Associated Press, 9/4/06, ap.org