Improved prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is of critical importance, as coronary heart disease (CHD) still represents the most common cause of death worldwide, engendering inestimable socioeconomic cost. The year 2015 has witnessed dramatic progress in CVD prevention on several fronts. Notably, this includes (i) event reduction in high-risk patients in general practice following introduction of a comprehensive strategy to attenuate modifiable risk factors, including lifestyle and dietary habits; (ii) the study of hybrid imaging to detect subclinical atherosclerosis, with potential improvement in risk prediction/management; (iii) the clinical demonstration, that culprit plaque rupture was observed in only 50–77% of patients with acute coronary syndromes; (iv) the emergence of ‘omics’ technologies to identify new causal biofactors; (v) the validation in clinical trials of the efficacy of monoclonal antibodies targeted to proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) in markedly reducing levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) across a spectrum of patients at high risk of premature CVD, with preliminary findings strongly suggestive of reduction in cardiovascular events; (vi) significant reduction of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in diabetic patients in the EMPA-REG OUTCOME trial with the anti-hyperglycaemic agent, empagliflozin, a selective sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLAT-2) inhibitor; (vii) new pharmacotherapeutic strategies for superior control of hypertension emanating from the PATHWAY-2 and PATHWAY-3 clinical trials involving spironoloactone add-on therapy in resistant hypertension, and amiloride plus hydrochlorothiazide in hypertensive patients requiring a diuretic, respectively; and finally (viii) a reduced mortality associated with a lower blood pressure target of 120 mmHg in patients at high cardiovascular risk in the SPRINT trial. Considered together, such progress augurs well for the future control of dyslipidaemia, hyperglycaemia, and hypertension, and with it, progressive reduction in atherosclerotic vascular disease and associated cardiovascular events in high-risk patients.