By MICHELLE BROOKER
New Zealanders will trial a world-first wonder pill expected to reduce
the risk of heart attacks and strokes by more than 80 per cent.
The Polypill – a combination of aspirin, folic acid, low dose
cholesterol, and three blood pressure lowering drugs – will be
trialled in New Zealand within the year to see if it is safe and
effective.
The trial co-director, University of
Auckland scientist Dr Anthony Rodgers, told The Press yesterday that
hundreds of New Zealanders' lives would be saved each year by taking the
pill each day.
More than 10,000 New Zealanders die
from heart disease every year.
"It is a paradigm shift," he
said. "This can happen – there are no uncertainties."
The pill was expected to be produced in
the next 12 months.
New Zealand and British researchers
have spent the last 10 years trialling a combination of cholesterol and
blood pressure-lowering drugs.
Internationally 750 trials had involved
400,000 people at risk of heart attack and stroke, including more than
11,000 New Zealanders and Australians.
The research findings published in this
week's British Medical Journal found that the Polypill could prevent 88
per cent of heart attacks and 80 per cent of strokes.
British scientists and study authors
Nicholas Wald, of the Wolfson Institute of Preventative Medicine, and
Malcolm Law, of the University of London, said the pill should be
offered to all people over the age of 55 and people with vascular
disease.
The pair said their strategy was
radical but "no other preventative method would have such a great
impact on public health in the Western world".
"About one in three people would
directly benefit, each gaining 11 to 12 years of life without a heart
attack or stroke," they said. "We are confident that the
estimated effect is accurate. There is substantial evidence on the
individual components of the Polypill, both for risk and disease
reduction."
Dr Rodgers said suggesting everyone
over the age of 55 take the pill, whether they had heart problems or
not, was controversial.
Christchurch cardiologist Hamid Ikram
said introducing a drug into the healthy population was "another
leap forward" that should be left alone.
"There is a certain amount of
resentment giving everybody something that maybe only a small percentage
will benefit from. It is trying to substitute a pill for lifestyle
changes."
Dr Rodgers said the pill could be made
very cheaply and cost as little as a couple of cents a day.
However, he said it would be difficult
to get funding from pharmaceutical companies because the pill would
erode the existing drug market.
