text_1: Innovative triple pill significantly lowers blood pressure, study finds
text_2: This news release does a nice job of explaining the basic design of a study investigating whether a once-daily “triple pill” (that combines 3 different blood pressure-lowering medications) is more effective in lowering blood pressure than doctors’ usual approach. But there’s plenty of room for improvement here including: presenting the findings in a more meaningful context for patients, including the substantial adverse outcomes noted by the researchers, and using much more toned down language for results that are neither novel or all that significant. Notably, there is a significant financial conflict of interest involving the authors. This should have been made clear to readers. The global importance of poorly controlled high blood pressure is well-stated by the authors in the introduction to their study published in JAMA (paraphrased): High blood pressure is the leading cause of mortality and cardiovascular disease globally with most of the disease burden occurring in low- and middle-income countries. The availability and affordability of medications is a critical issue. About one-third of individuals with high blood pressure in these settings receive treatment. Only about half of patients treated in high-income countries and about 1-in-4 patients in low- and middle-income countries achieve blood pressure control. A fixed low-dose combination therapy with inexpensive blood pressure-lowering drugs has the potential to address several barriers to improve blood pressure control worldwide. Indeed, there’s significant need for a simple-to-take, effective, and affordable medication to address this issue. If successful, the benefits to patients, and the profits for developers, would be massive.