Single pill for BP and cholesterol

People with high blood pressure (BP) and cholesterol don't have to go for different drugs anymore. Now a single pill can serve both the purposes. Controlling high blood pressure and lowering bad cholesterol can prove to be a difficult task for some people. In a recent study conducted on African-Americans, it has been found that a single pill containing a blood pressure-lowering drug and a cholesterol-lowering drug may prove useful. The single pill combo is marketed as Caduet by Pfizer. This pill contains a combination of the drug amlodipine, used to treat high blood pressure and atorvastatin, used to lower cholesterol. To test the efficacy of this combination, researchers at the Wayne State University Health Center in Detroit screened 1170 African American patients, out of which 501 were enrolled in the study and 499 received drug therapy. The 499 patients with uncontrolled hypertension and dyslipidemia (high cholesterol) received Caduet in eight different dosage strengths, which were flexibly increased when required. The results showed that the single pill combination proves useful in controlling both hypertension and dyslipidemia. It was found that the control of hypertension and dyslipidemia had been achieved in less than 1 percent of patients when the study began but by the end of 20 weeks, half of the subjects attained it. Out of 489 patients 236 were able to control both their BP and cholesterol, whereas 4 were at baseline. The single-pill combination was well tolerated; the most common treatment-related adverse events were peripheral swelling (3.4 percent), headache (2.2 percent), muscle pain (2.2 percent) and constipation (2.0 percent). Thus, the single pill combo can prove helpful to people suffering from high BP and cholesterol.