A "polypill" that combines blood pressure drugs, a cholesterol-lowering statin, aspirin and folic acid may minimize heart attacks, Canadian researchers say.

Dr. Koon Teo of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, says the polypill could reduce cardiovascular events by more than 80 percent in healthy people.

In a double-blind trial in 50 centers in India, 2,053 people without cardiovascular disease -- ages 45-80 and with one risk factor -- were randomly assigned to the Polycap. It consisted of low doses of the drugs: 12.5 mg. thiazide, 50 mg atenolol, 5 mg ramipril, 20 mg simvastatin and 100 mg aspirin per day.

Subjects were otherwise assigned to eight other groups, each with about 200 individuals, of aspirin alone, simvastatin alone, hydrochlorthiazide alone, three combinations of the two blood-pressure-lowering drugs, three blood-pressure-lowering drugs alone, or three blood-pressure-lowering drugs plus aspirin.

Compared with groups not receiving blood-pressure-lowering drugs, the Polycap reduced systolic blood pressure by 7.4 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure by 5.6 mm Hg, which was similar when three blood-pressure-lowering drugs were used, with or without aspirin.

The findings were published in The Lancet.