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Patients with hypertension often require multiple medications to achieve target blood pressure. Researchers at a hospital in Ireland created and tested a polypill containing an ACE inhibitor, a beta-blocker, a calcium-channel blocker, and a diuretic — each at one fourth the standard dose. The original medicines were cut into quarters and placed in opaque capsules in the hospital’s pharmacy.
In unblinded fashion, 108 white patients (mean age, 50; 65% men) with untreated hypertension (mean BP, 160/96 mm Hg) were randomized to receive, for 4 weeks, the polypill or one of the component drugs at its full daily dose: captopril (100 mg [50 mg twice daily]), atenolol (50 mg), amlodipine (5 mg), or bendroflumethiazide (2.5 mg). Subjects had no known …