A Tauranga doctor has started bundling five different pills in a pack to medicate people at risk of heart attacks.
The doctor, Shaun Holt, has picked up on the "polypill" concept being trialled in New Zealand using special pills manufactured in India - but is using sachets of conventional pills to assemble a daily dose.
The low-dose medications taken once a day are: aspirin, a drug to reduce cholesterol levels and three to reduce blood pressure.
"Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in New Zealand , causing 40 per cent of deaths," he told NZ Doctor.
The pill packs were imitating the polypill - conceived at Auckland University containing aspirin, a statin, and some antihypertensives - which are being trialled after manufacture in India.
Dr Holt said most doctors tried to treat problems such as high blood pressure or cholesterol after they occur, but the polypill was proposed as a widescale medication to reduce cardiovascular disease.
Use of the polypill had been estimated to potentially reduce mortality due to heart disease and strokes by 50 - 80 per cent, he said.
Dr Holt said is packaging approach could give doctors more flexibility in prescribing because they could easily modify the daily dose of each drug.
He said boxed rolls of 90 sachets could be delivered at a cost of $1/day, once people had a prescription from their doctor.
Initially it would only be available in the Bay of Plenty, but would be rolled out to the rest of the country.
Separately, 400 people from New Zealand and seven other countries are being enrolled to trial the polypill, which has already been tested on 2000 people in India.
Auckland University epidemiologist Professor Rod Jackson, who is assisting with the pill pilot study, has said patients hate taking two pills, or three or four.
And Professor Anthony Rodgers, who is leading the trial here, has said the study in India estimated the polypill would cost a person about $20 a year.
A report from the London School of Pharmacy, Winning Combinations, has indicated that dishing out a polypill to members of the public aged over 55 could, when combined with exercise and other lifestyle interventions, cut death and disability rates from cardiovascular disease in half.
By popping a low-dose polypill containing drugs to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke and sticking to healthy living, more people could age without developing metabolic syndromes such as type II diabetes and coronary heart disease, according to report author Professor David Taylor.
The report concluded that GPs and community pharmacists should "work together to help everyone get convenient and safe access to pharmaceutical protection that can save lives".
It also called for health policy makers to "adopt science-based policies" that encourage pharmaceutical companies to create polypills using older generic medicines.
- NZPA
To find out if you are eligible to take part in the polypill trial, go to www.pillproject.org or call 09 373 7599 extension 82358 (Participants will need to attend the trial clinic, based at The University of Auckland, Tamaki Campus in Glen Innes. )
