Individuals at high risk for heart disease are frequently given a concoction of numerous pills and medications to reduce their chances of heart attack or stroke. But the new Red Heart Pill, which started clinical trials in London last week, combines four essential medications into one small dosage, and has the capacity to cut deaths from heart attacks and strokes in half.

The Red Heart Pill's ingredients are fairly basic: aspirin, a cholesterol-lowering statin, an ACE inhibitor, and a blood pressure-lowering thiazide. However, the four drugs have never been available as a single pill before – primarily because it's too cheap.

According to the project's leader, Anthony Rodgers of the University of Aukland, the mainstream pharmaceutical industry makes its money from "people paying a few hundred pounds a year for the latest blockbuster drug," he told the Guardian. "A pill with established medicines that halved cardiovascular risk and could be available for £20 a year could be seen as a threat"

The four-in-one pill is currently being manufactured by Dr. Reddy's, a generic drug company based in India, and 700 people in six countries are taking part in the drug's first clinical trials. Next year, the company hopes to hold a main trial with up to 7,000 volunteers. When the Red Heart pill is finally available in pharmacies, it could cost as little as $1 a day – a far cry from the exorbitantly-priced heart drugs on the market today.

While patients in the United States and the rest of the Western world are sure to be grateful for access to a cheap and convenient heart drug, the invention of the Red Heart pill is especially good news for sick people in developing countries, who often have no access at all to drugs. All going well, this new superpill should be saving millions of lives within several years.