Fixed-dose combination therapy to reduce the growing burden of cardiovascular disease in low- and middle-income countries: feasibility and challenges

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has become a major concern in low- and middle-income countries, which bear about 80% of the cardiovascular mortality worldwide. Curbing the burden of CVD implies the management and control of many cardiovascular risk factors that act synergistically to increase cardiovascular mortality. Such actions may require expensive polymedications in a context of limited resources. Therefore, alternative solutions for CVD prevention in low- and middle-income countries are urgently needed. In this context, the concept of a fixed-dose combination therapy, a polypill composed of drugs known to effectively treat or prevent CVD, has been proposed as a scalable strategy to overcome nonadherence to polymedications and reduce costs. While this has recently been approved in more than 30 countries across America and Europe, there is a crucial need to analyze the potential benefits and challenges related to cardiovascular polypills implementation and vulgarization in low- and middle-income countries, the epicenter of CVD.