Page 26 - HOH

A12 HEALTH
Saturday 14 November 2020
Big study supports cheap combo pill to lower heart risks

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE polypill alone showed a
AP Chief Medical Writer trend toward modest ben-
A daily pill combining four efit.
cholesterol and blood pres- However, the polypill plus
sure medicines taken with aspirin showed clear value,
low-dose aspirin cut the reducing the heart-related
risk of heart attacks, strokes problems and deaths by
and heart-related deaths 31%. About 4% of people in
by nearly one third in a this group died or suffered
large international study one of the heart problems
that's expected to lead to being tracked versus near-
wider use of this "polypill" ly 6% of those on placebo
approach. pills.
For more than a decade, The side effects were mini-
doctors have been testing mal. About 1.5% more of
whether the cheap, all- the polypill users had dizzi-
in-one combo pills could ness or low blood pressure,
make it easier to prevent but they could be switched
heart disease, the top killer to a lower dose if that hap-
worldwide. Friday's results pened, Yusuf said.
show their value — and not "We now have direct evi-
just for poor nations. dence" from several stud-
"It's for all sensible coun- This November 2020 photo provided by McMaster University shows 75mg aspirin pills, left, and ies with clearly consistent
tries," said Dr. Salim Yusuf Polycaps, pills from India-based Cadila Pharmaceuticals that contains one cholesterol and three results and no safety con-
of McMaster University in blood pressure medicines, used in the International Polycap Study 3 (TIPS-3). cerns about the value
Hamilton, Ontario. "If the Associated Press of polypills, said another
rich countries don't want expert with no role in this
the benefit, that's their pre- "I think this will change with cap, a pill from India-based They were divided into work, Anushka Patel, a car-
rogative." our results," Yusuf said. Cadila Pharmaceuticals groups and given either diologist at Royal Prince
He helped lead the study One independent expert Ltd. that contains three low-dose aspirin (75 milli- Alfred Hospital in Sydney,
and gave results at an agreed. blood pressure medicines grams), the polypill alone, Australia.
American Heart Associa- The study is very impor- (atenolol, ramipril and the the polypill plus aspirin or "The public health impact
tion conference. They also tant and "the best data "water pill" hydrochlorothia- placebo pills. One group ... could be enormous," she
were published by the New we have so far" on polyp- zide) plus a cholesterol-low- was assigned to get vitamin said.
England Journal of Medi- ills, said Dr. Eugene Yang, ering statin. It sells in India D, but those results are not The study was funded by
cine. a University of Washington for about 33 cents a pill. available yet. Neither the the Wellcome Trust, a Brit-
At least half a dozen com- heart specialist who leads Researchers enrolled more participants nor their doc- ish charity that supports
panies sell polypills outside a heart disease preven- than 5,700 people, primar- tors knew who was taking research; Cadila Pharma-
the United States, includ- tion panel for the American ily in India and the Philip- what until the study ended. ceuticals; and other public
ing several in Europe, but College of Cardiology. pines plus Colombia, Can- The study was to have run and private research orga-
they're not widely used or In the United States, "I ada, Malaysia, Indonesia, for five years and to have nizations.
marketed. Doctors have could definitely see" using Bangladesh, Tanzania and included 7,000 people, but Yusuf said polypill compa-
been reluctant partly be- a polypill in places with big Tunisia. Men had to be drug delivery problems and nies would need to seek
cause no big, international health disparities and ac- at least 50 years old and the coronavirus pandemic regulators' approval to sell
studies have shown they cess to care problems, he women at least 55. All were forced researchers to cut the pills in various coun-
can lower heart attacks said. One small study last at moderate risk of heart it short. After just over four tries, and that generic drug
and deaths — not just risk year in Alabama suggest- problems because of high years on average, aspirin makers might team with
factors such as high blood ed benefit. blood pressure, diabetes or alone did not make a sig- large insurers to offer the
pressure. The new study tested Poly- other conditions. nificant difference, and the therapy. q

Japan Nobel laureate Koshiba who found neutrinos dies at 94

By MARI YAMAGUCHI ground chambers to de- telescopes that provide at the Super-Kamiokande
Associated Press tect neutrinos, elusive par- sharper images of the uni- facility that found neutri-
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese ticles that stream from the verse. nos have mass.
astrophysicist Masatoshi sun. Koshiba worked at the Ka- Koshiba was active in sci-
Koshiba, a co-winner of Neutrinos offer a unique miokande neutrino detec- ence education for young
the 2002 Nobel Prize in view of the sun's inner tor, a huge facility built in people, and established a
physics for confirming the workings because they the mountains in central basic science foundation
existence of elementary are produced in its heart Japan. He confirmed and using his Nobel Prize award
particles called neutrinos, by the same process that extended Davis' work, and to provide learning experi-
has died. He was 94. causes the sun to shine. also discovered neutrinos ences for high school and
Koshiba, a distinguished He shared the prize with coming from distant super- college students.
In this Oct. 8, 2002, file photo, professor at the University two other scientists — the nova explosions, some of A native of Toyohashi in
Japanese physicist Masa- of Tokyo, died at a Tokyo late Raymond Davis Jr. of the brightest objects in the central Japan, Koshiba
toshi Koshiba smiles during hospital on Thursday, the the University of Pennsyl- universe. graduated from the Uni-
a press conference at the university announced Fri- vania, who also worked Koshiba's contribution led versity of Tokyo in 1951
University of Tokyo, in Tokyo day. It didn't provide a on neutrino detectors, and to subsequent discoveries. and studied in the United
after winning the Nobel Prize cause of death. the late Italian-born sci- His student, Takaaki Ka- States before returning to
in Physics in 2002.
Associated Press Koshiba devised the con- entist Riccardo Giacconi, jita, won the Nobel Prize in Japan in 1958 to pursue his
struction of giant under- who was cited for X-ray physics in 2015 for research research.q