The World Health Organization (WHO) has added a polypill, a type of heart medication that contains three medications in one capsule, to its list of essential drugs.
The special polypill is made for people who have previously experienced a heart attack or another heart-related incident, with the intention of avoiding a repetition. Its creation required 15 years of intensive research and multiple iterations.
According to the WHO website, the medications on the List of Essential Medicines are those that address the population’s top medical requirements and have the potential to save lives, enhance health, and lessen suffering.
Valentin Fuster, MD, noted that this cardiovascular polypill might have a crucial role in international plans to stop cardiac events in patients who have had a heart attack and are now receiving treatment with distinct mono-components.
Oscar Pérez, chief marketing and business development officer at Ferrer noted that the inclusiveness of this therapeutic selection in the WHO’s List of Essential Medicines demonstrates the aim to make a beneficial difference in society and is a crucial step to bring valuable and distinct benefits to people with cardiovascular disease.
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Polypill Proven Effective in Reducing Cardiovascular Events and Mortality in Patients with Prior Heart Attack
As previously reported, the polypill comprises three drugs that are normally prescribed to patients after they experience their first heart attack.
According to the SECURE trial, which Fuster conducted and was published in The New England Journal of Medicine in August 2022, it was proven to be helpful in reducing subsequent adverse cardiovascular events in people who have already experienced a cardiac event.
Study says that the polypill also decreased cardiovascular mortality in patients who had previously experienced heart attacks by 33%.
The SECURE outcomes demonstrated for the very first time that the cardiovascular polypill that our team assisted in developing resulted in clinically significant decreases in recurrent cardiovascular events in individuals who had experienced a myocardial infarction, according to Fuster.
According to Fuster, the three medications included in the polypill are acetylsalicylic acid, which thins the blood to help avoid blood clots, ramipril, an ACE inhibitor that reduces blood pressure, and atorvastatin, a cholesterol-lowering medication.
This cardiovascular polypill, as a method that combines three of the initial medications for these patients, has demonstrated its efficacy since higher adherence results in patients receiving therapy for longer periods of time and, consequently, having a decreased risk of cardiovascular events, Fuster stated in the study.
According to Ferrer’s Perez, the data shows that Trinomia treatment is more effective than normal treatment by reducing cardiovascular mortality by 3%. Currently, 25 nations offer the polypill for sale commercially, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet approved it for use in the US.
Source: Fox News
