UK Is Testing Polypill Heart Med in a Show Trial with Plans to Give It to Everyone Over Age 50.

They Really Do Believe Health Is Found in Drugs! If you're over 50, then you are defined as sick and in need of at least four drugs. But don't fret! They're all together in a single easy-to-take pill.

by Heidi Stevenson

4 January 2011

If you're over 50 in the UK, you have been defined as sick and in need of a drugs. To this end, the polypill, which contains four drugs, is currently being tested. Within a couple of years, it's expected that people will either go to their local pharmacy and buy it off the shelf or get the pharmacist to prescribe it.

The first, and most important thing to note is that the authors of the article promoting the concept of the polypill in the British Medical Journal, NJ Wald and RW Law, just happen to have a patent application for a formulation of a polypill. (If you don't think there's any reason to read further...well, I can't argue with that.)

Here are the four drugs to be included in the polypill:

• Simvastatin
• Losartan
• Hydrochlorthiazide
• Amlodopine

They're counting on a "synergistic" effect with the combination. The test will last six months, though their goal is to have everyone taking it starting on the 50th birthday for the rest of their [foreshortened?] lives.

According to The Guardian, one of the researchers running the trial, Dr. David Wald of the Wolfson Institute, said:

The polypill has the potential to be a daily preventive method against heart attacks and strokes, just as the contraceptive pill is a daily preventive method to avoid an unwanted pregnancy. This trial is a step towards making access to the polypill a reality.

How do you like that? He compares getting pregnant with getting a heart attack!

He further stated:

By offering the polypill on the basis of age alone, prevention is greatly simplified and the population receiving the polypill are not medicalized, because they do not have to become patients to receive it.

Interesting reasoning: You aren't "medicalized" unless you go to a doctor. So, taking a daily pill that consists of four potent, not to mention dangerous, drugs isn't really taking a medicine because you didn't go into a doctor's office to get it. But it's not surprising, when you see what passes for a trial before pushing it onto the public.

The trial will include only 100 people. They will all take the polypill for 12 weeks and a placebo for 12 weeks, though they won't know which they're taking at any time. So, there's no control group. After that, they'll all be given the real polypill for two years. However, the researchers are hoping to have the pills on the market in less than two years.

The subjects' blood pressure and cholesterol will be monitored for the 24 week duration of the official trial. Obviously, all they're doing is seeing if the drugs lower blood pressure and cholesterol. It has never been proven that lowering cholesterol and blood pressure prevents heart attacks in people who've never had heart attacks—but that doesn't seem to be of any particular concern.

This brief trial of only 100 people is the basis on which they're planning to push these drugs on everyone over age 50. This doesn't even approach so-called "evidence based medicine". This is a show trial to get approval for drug marketing or convince the public that they really ought to take the product.

They must have already determined what the outcome will be. If they'd intended the trial to be a genuine test of whether the polypill works and whether it's safe, then it would have been far bigger, lasted far longer, and there would have been a genuine placebo group that received only placebo. This is a farce. They're already hoping to have it on the market in 18-24 months, before even this pathetic excuse for a trial has been completed!

Though the doses of the medications are relatively low, that does not mean there will be no adverse effects—especially when the potential for harm in these drugs is significant. Here are nonexhausive lists of adverse effects identified by Medscape for each of these drugs:

Simvastatin	Losartan	Hydrochlorthiazide	Amlodopine
Angioedema Anorexia Anxiety Arthritis Bronchitis Cataracts Chest Pain Depression Dyspepsia Dyspnea Erectile Dysfunction Erythema Multiforme Gynecomastia Hepatic Failure Hepatitis Increased Creatine Phosphokinase Libido Changes Lupus-Like Syndrome Memory Impairment Obstructive Hyperbilirubinemia Ophthalmoplegia Pancreatitis Paresthesia Peripheral Neuropathy Pruritus of Skin Rhabdomyolysis Stevens-Johnson Syndrome Thrombocytopenic Disorder Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis Tremors Urinary Tract Infections Urticaria Vasculitis General Weakness	Abdominal Pain with Cramps Anaphylaxis Angioedema Back Pain Dizziness Edema Fatigue Headache Abnormal Hepatic Function Tests Drug-Induced Hepatitis Dyspepsia Hyperkalemia Hyponatremia Insomnia Limb Pain Malaise Myalgia Pharyngitis Rhabdomyolysis Thrombocytopenic Disorder Vasculitis	Abnormal Sexual Function Anorexia Disorder of Electrolytes (fairly common) Hypochloremic Alkalosis (fairly common) Hypokalemia (fairly common) Hyponatremia (fairly common) Hyperglycemia Orthostatic Hypotension Acute Pancreatitis Agranulocytosis Allergic Reactions Aplastic Anemia Dizziness Erythema Multiforme Exfoliative Dermatitis General Weakness Gout Headache Disorder Hemolytic Anemia Hepatitis Hypercalcemia Hypercholesterolemia Hypersensitivity Angiitis Hyperuricemia Hypomagnesemia Interstitial Nephritis Leukopenia Muscle Spasm Obstructive Hyperbilirubinemia Paresthesia Purpura Renal Disease Sialoadenitis Stevens-Johnson Syndrome Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Thrombocytopenic Disorder Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis Urticaria Vertigo Xanthopsia	Abnormal Hepatic Function Tests Abnormal Sexual Function Allergic Reactions Alopecia Angina Anxiety Ataxia Back Pain Bradycardia Chills Conduction Disorder of the Heart Depersonalization Depression Dyschromia Dyspepsia Dysuria Extrasystoles Hypertonia Hypotension Increased Appetite Insomnia Jaundice Leukopenia Memory Impairment Migraine Mood Changes Muscle Weakness Myocardial Infarction Nervousness Nightmares Orthostatic Hypotension Parosmia Polyuria Tremors Twitching Urticaria Visual Changes Weight Gain Weight Loss

These are not just mild adverse effects. Many are life threatening. Then, when you consider that some of them are cited for more than one drug, such as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, a rare but potentially deadly condition, which is cited for both Simvastatin and Hydrochlorthiazide, does the risk double? Does anyone know? Are there new risks that result from combining four drugs? In general, the more drugs a person takes, the more likely there will be adverse effects. Why should the polypill be any different?

Does it make any sense for a healthy person to take a drug in an effort to prevent diseases, especially when the diseases are of the circulatory system and nearly all related to lifestyle and food choices?

Consider how bisphosphonates were (and still are) given on a massive basis to prevent osteoporosis. The result was that it causes the condition. Women were strongly encouraged to take hormone replacement therapy at menopause and earlier to limit their risk for cardiovascular disease. Oops! That drug regime caused far more disease than it ever prevented, and it's safe to say that many women now dead would be alive today were it not for HRT. The more we try to prevent diseases with drugs, the sicker we seem to become.

Rich May of Blue Chip Chiropractic, says, "You don't get a headache from lack of aspirin." The same is true of heart attacks. They aren't the result of a lack of drugs.

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