Polypill could save thousands of lives

A UK study of 84 over-50s, published in the journal PLoS One, showed the pill could cut blood pressure and levels of "bad" cholesterol.
 
They called for the pill to be made available "as a matter of urgency".
 
The British Heart Foundation called for more research and said pills were not a substitute for a living a healthy life.
 
This study at Queen Mary, University of London investigated a polypill containing a statin and three blood pressure drugs, all of which are already widely used.
 
Patients were given either a polypill or a dummy pill once a day for three months. Their treatments were then swapped so that over a six-month period they would have spent half the time taking the drug and half the time taking the sugar pill.