Commitment to taking medications on time and at the correct times is one of the most essential burdens that patients face, especially those who suffer from chronic cardiovascular diseases.
There are many reasons for non-compliance with taking medications, the most important of which is the large number of medications that the patient must take in a day and at different
times in the long run, and the consequences of the patient’s inability to remember to take the medication at the specified time
in addition to the patient’s exposure to the side effects of medications, and the financial burden on the patient.
When buying several drugs periodically.
Currently, the patient's non-compliance with taking medications is one of the most common medication errors, and it causes the patient's health condition to deteriorate, the treatment plan to fail, complications to occur, and the need for hospitalization.
People with cardiovascular disease need to take a group of medications, including blood thinners, cholesterol-lowering drugs, and heart rate regulators, in addition to high blood pressure medications on a daily and regular basis.
Currently, health sector workers are giving these patients special care, as cardiovascular disease is one of the main problems leading to sudden death around the world.
It contains three or more medicines in fixed doses called a polypill. This pill will enable the patient to take his multiple medications with one pill that is easy for him to remember and deal with
which will benefit the improvement of his health condition and reduce the risks of cardiovascular diseases, such as angina pectoris, strokes, and others.
The first proposal to use a single multi-indication pill for the prevention of cardiovascular disease was presented in a publication of the World Health Organization on secondary prevention of noncommunicable diseases in 2001.
Two years later, two scientists presented scientific evidence confirming the effectiveness of this pill in preventing cardiovascular disease, and they suggested the use of a single drug containing five drugs:
a statin-type cholesterol-lowering drug (atorvastatin 10 mg or simvastatin 40 mg), and aspirin (50-125 mg), Folic acid 0.8 mg, and three diuretic-type antihypertensive drugs, a beta-receptor blocker, and an angiotensin-enzyme inhibitor.
It is recommended to use this pill for those over 55 years old, or any adult who suffers from diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
Where they found that the use of these drugs combined in one pill reduced the incidence of heart attacks by 88%, and reduced the incidence of stroke by 80%.
In a report published in September 2014, it was found that more than half of patients treated with three combination medications in one pill to prevent heart disease adhered to
their treatment nine months after starting treatment, compared to 41% of patients who had to take these medications separately This indicates that the combined pill made it easier for patients to adhere to the medication, and this was reflected in raising the level of care and care provided to patients.
Benefits of the multi-indication pill:
1 - Ease of patients' commitment to treatment, as patients' commitment to taking one medication pill is better than their commitment to taking several medications daily.
2 - Using a single pill containing multiple drugs improves treatment results and achieves the desired goals of the treatment plan.
3- The compound pill is easy to dispense and handle by the patient and the doctor.
4 - Using multiple medicines in one pill improves their therapeutic efficacy and reduces their side effects.
5- Reducing the material and economic cost of manufacturing and purchasing medicines, as the purchasing value of a compound medicinal pill is less than the purchasing value of each medicine separately.
6- Reducing the need to visit a doctor and perform medical tests and examinations.
Cons of using the multi-indication pill: Despite the benefits of the compound pill, it has some drawbacks that should be mentioned:
1 - It is not yet possible to describe the action of this pill as ideal in which each drug component works individually, as some studies have found that some of these drugs, when
placed in a compound pill, give a result less than the expected result, and the side effects of drugs may lead to failure Patient adherence to treatment.
2 - There is not enough scientific evidence to confirm the effectiveness of the combined medicinal pill for those under the age of 55 years.
3 - There are fears that patients' dependence on taking the combined pill may lead to their negligence in performing exercise and following a healthy lifestyle
which is a key factor in reducing the risk of heart disease; This is a belief that the compound drug dispenses with healthy lifestyles.
4 - The use of the combined medicinal pill is not considered an ideal treatment for patients who have a very high-risk factor, and these patients should be treated according to their condition.
5- Doctors face difficulty in controlling and adjusting the dose of each drug contained within the compound pill, as the pill is manufactured with fixed doses of each drug and
therefore the dosages cannot be controlled in proportion to each patient and his or her disease condition.
6 - It must be taken into account that there is no drug-drug interaction between the drugs when they are put together in one medicinal pill.
7 - There is still a problem with patients accepting this pill to prevent diseases.
Today, after more than a decade of manufacturing a combined or multi-indication pill, and despite the challenges, it has faced, the existing data confirm that the use of a single tablet
containing multiple drugs is a suitable solution for preventing cardiovascular disease, and is preferred by both patients.
And doctors and the US Food and Drug Administration have approved many drug combinations that contain antihypertensive and post-anaphylactic lipid-lowering drugs.
that the medicines in these formulations work as expected of them as shown by the pharmacokinetic and physical pharmacological studies, and this made the US Food and
Drug Administration commend their use in September of last year and the results of their use.