In our March 2006 issue, Oscar H. Franco and colleagues discussed the concept of a fixed-dose combination pill, which was referred to as a polypill, a theoretical combination of six pharmacological compounds for the treatment of cardiovascular disease proposed by N.J. Wald and M.R. Law in their article "A strategy to reduce cardiovascular disease by more than 80%" (BMJ 2003;326:1419). We would like to make it clear that Franco et al's article was a discussion on the theoretical concept of a fixed-does combination pill as proposed in Wald and Law's article and did not intend in any way to refer to the POLYPILL, a term which is currently the subject of trade mark applications by Professor Wald in the USA and Canada. The Editors wish to apologise to Professor Wald for any ambiguity that may have occurred in the wording of this article.