NHS trials 3-in-1 blood pressure pill

NHS DOCTORS are to trial a new ‘three-in-one’ pill for high blood pressure which they believe will save lives and lead to fewer patients having to switch between drugs.

About seven million people in Britain – about a tenth of the population – take pills to control the condition, while a similar number have high blood pressure but don’t know it. Labelled the ‘silent killer’, it is responsible for about half of heart attacks and strokes.

But many people find it difficult to identify the right medication, or a combination, that works to lower their blood pressure without causing unpleasant side effects such as swollen ankles, headaches and dizziness.

Most have to take two or three separate pills each day to control their blood pressure, increasing the chance of side effects or that they simply don’t take the tablets.

Now doctors are to trial a new approach in which low doses of three widely used drugs are put into a single pill. They hope the combination will work better, on average, than putting patients on a higher dose of one drug to start with.

The tablet, created by George

Medicines, is to be tested in a trial of around 500 NHS patients led by Imperial College Trials Unit in London. Another 1,000 patients are testing the pill overseas.

Unit director Professor Neil Poulter said: ‘There is lots of evidence to show that giving two drugs at low dose is more effective than one drug at full dose.

‘It gets blood pressure down more quickly, and with fewer side effects. This pill is taking that approach a step further.’

Because the three drugs lower blood pressure in different ways, they should work together to have a more pronounced effect.

Stefan Konig, chief executive of George Medicines, said: ‘There’s a need for drugs that are designed for easier intake and are more efficacious than what’s currently out there. Our combination therapy offers simplicity for the patient and the treating physician.’

If the trials go well, he hopes the pill will be available in 2023.