dr. mark polner suffered a heart attack nearly 20 years ago, preventing another became a priority. >> it's if you don't have a good heart, you know, it limits your whole lifestyle. >> reporter: now, a new study presented at the american heart association's annual meeting and published in the new england journal of medicine is finding that a prescription drug made of pure fish oil could significantly reduce the risk of a heart attack. >> i think it's the biggest development in cardiovascular prevention since statins were introduced. >> reporter: researchers looked at more than 8,000 patients who had elevated levels of fat in the blood called triglycerides, and were taken a statin to lower cholesterol. they found those who also took the daily prescription fish oil drug called vascepa, lowered the risk of having a cardiovascular event by 25%. the risk of death dropped 20%. >> i think that this trial and its findings, hopefully, will be immediately practice-changing and useful for patients, but beyond that, i think will spawn a whole line of scientific research trying to figure out how did thi