The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 274 No 7349 p574
14 May 2005

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News summary

Three drugs better than one for ischaemic heart disease

Patients with cardiovascular disease have a better chance of survival if they take a combination of three drug classes — statins, aspirin and beta blockers — than if they take just one, a new prospective study reveals.

Researchers tracked the progress of over 13,000 patients diagnosed with ischaemic heart disease. They found that those treated with all three drug classes had an improved survival rate than those treated with beta-blockers or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors alone (83 per cent reduction in all cause mortality compared with 19 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively). Adding an ACE inhibitor to the treatment regimen did not appear to confer additional benefit (BMJ 2005;330:1059).