For those lucky enough to avoid motor accidents and violence, the leading cause of death is by heart attack.  Two research groups, in independent research, have identified mutations in a single gene – APOC3 - that lead to one having less heart attacks.  The key is to keep the triglycerides, which is a type of fat in the blood, very low and this mutation of the gene does that.  Drug companies will now try to manufacture drugs that copy the effect of that mutation.  The experts are convinced that the high triglyceride level, as opposed to a cholesterol level, is the factor that ultimately leads to heart attacks and so anything they can do to lower the triglyceride levels means that fewer people will die of heart attacks in the future.  That of course is many years away, if not more than a decade, because they would still need to work out how to copy the mutations and test the drugs that they create.  People who have the mutation in the APOC3 gene are much less at risk of a heart attack than other people.  A company by the name of Isis has already developed a pill that can reduce triglyceride levels by 71%, and while that has not been tested as to how it affects heart attacks in the general population means that clearly there is a lot of progress that can be made in this regard.