Powerful cholesterol-busting drugs could be sold over chemists' counters within six months in an attempt to prevent thousands of people from dying each year of heart attacks.

The drugs, called statins, are now available only on prescription, but many medical groups believe making them freely available would prevent hundreds of deaths a year.

Health Secretary John Reid will announce tomorrow the launch of a two-month consultation on the plan. 'Giving people the chance to buy a preventative medicine that they would not otherwise be able to get must be right,' Reid said.

'Just as people have the choice to give up smoking and improve their diet, we want them to be able to choose a medicine that will reduce their risk of coronary heart disease.'

The move follows growing evidence that statins hugely benefit patients whose cholesterol levels are too high. Many doctors believe they also protect the heart at an earlier stage by helping to prevent furred-up arteries.

The Observer revealed three weeks ago that the Government was considering re-classifying the drugs to allow them to be sold in pharmacies.

First to be sold over the counter would be Zocor Heart Pro, also called simvastatin. It cuts the liver's production of cholesterol and boosts its ability to remove the more harmful LDL - or low-density lipoprotein - cholesterol from the blood.

One Briton in 50 is already on a statin, saving nearly 7,000 lives a year. The NHS spent more than £500 million on them last year, but the drugs are seen as highly cost-effective as they prevent many people from suffering disabilities and needing hospital treatment. Heart disease kills 270,000 Britons each year.

Statins are seen as one of the great medical advances of the past 50 years. It is estimated that an extra 10 million high-risk people going on to them would save about 50,000 lives a year.

The consultation results go to the Committee on Safety of Medicines, which will advise Ministers on what to do. If they go ahead and reclassify the drug, the Government will have to look also at the way it would be advertised to patients.

There is some concern, however, about the change because a small but significant group of people will suffer side-effects on statins. Around one in every 1,000 patients develops a condition causing inflammation in the muscles which can lead to serious kidney problems.

Some cardiologists are worried that if statins become more freely available they will be given without a preliminary blood test, which would identify those at severe risk of side-effects.

Others point out that doctors are well placed to give patients other health advice, such as the need to do more exercise and eat healthily.

Professor Sir Charles George, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, welcomed the proposal to make them easily available. But he said: 'It needs to be established whether or not cholesterol testing should be offered to patients over the counter and, if so, how reliable this will be.'

Around one-fifth of Britons have high cholesterol, yet research suggests that more exercise and better diet alone do not make a big difference.