Latest news with #statins
The Sun
13-06-2025
- Health
- The Sun
Ozempic-like weight loss jabs could one day be dished out like statins, says top NHS doctor
WEIGHT loss jabs could one day be dished out like statins, England's top doctor says. Professor Sir Stephen Powis, medical director of NHS England, said in years to come they will get cheaper and may be used to prevent a range of illnesses. But chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty said they are 'not a get out of jail card' and people must still try to be healthy. GPs will roll out Mounjaro across the country from this month. The injections currently cost the NHS around £100 each but prices are expected to drop over time. Research increasingly shows they have health benefits beyond diabetes and weight loss, potentially including reducing the risks of cancer, dementia and heart diseases. Cholesterol -lowering statins have been used for decades to reduce heart attacks and strokes and now cost next to nothing at 3p a pill. Studies suggest they also reduce the risk of dementia, though it is not what they were designed for. Prof Powis said: 'The use of statins is now very different from when they first came out and I've no doubt that will be the same for these drugs. 'I think over time it's highly likely that they will become more widespread. 'I think there will be a combination of increased evidence of positive outcomes and costs dropping, and we will learn better how to deploy them. 'It's not completely unusual for drugs over time to be found to have effects that go over and beyond what they were initially designed for. 'I am not starry-eyed about weight loss drugs but it's very exciting. 'We're in the foothills of learning how to use them.' NHS prescriptions surging NHS use of the jabs is already skyrocketing and official figures show prescriptions in England surged from 1.4million in 2023 to 2.7m in 2024. Doctors spent a total of £269million on them in the latest financial year and more than a million people are estimated to be buying them privately. Prof Whitty said it is important for people to still get help to eat healthily and exercise, as well as taking medicine. He added: 'These are not get out of jail cards. 'What we shouldn't do is use it as an excuse, as a society, not to deal with what is a rising and very serious problem.' Everything you need to know about fat jabs Weight loss jabs are all the rage as studies and patient stories reveal they help people shed flab at almost unbelievable rates, as well as appearing to reduce the risk of serious diseases. Wegovy – a modified version of type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic – and Mounjaro are the leading weight loss injections used in the UK. Wegovy, real name semaglutide, has been used on the NHS for years while Mounjaro (tirzepatide) is a newer and more powerful addition to the market. Mounjaro accounts for most private prescriptions for weight loss and is set to join Wegovy as an NHS staple this year. How do they work? The jabs work by suppressing your appetite, making you eat less so your body burns fat for energy instead and you lose weight. They do this my mimicking a hormone called GLP-1, which signals to the brain when the stomach is full, so the drugs are officially called GLP-1 receptor agonists. They slow down digestion and increase insulin production, lowering blood sugar, which is why they were first developed to treat type 2 diabetes in which patients' sugar levels are too high. Can I get them? NHS prescriptions of weight loss drugs, mainly Wegovy and an older version called Saxenda (chemical name liraglutide), are controlled through specialist weight loss clinics. Typically a patient will have to have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, classifying them as medically obese, and also have a weight-related health condition such as high blood pressure. GPs generally do not prescribe the drugs for weight loss. Private prescribers offer the jabs, most commonly Mounjaro, to anyone who is obese (BMI of 30+) or overweight (BMI 25-30) with a weight-related health risk. Private pharmacies have been rapped for handing them out too easily and video calls or face-to-face appointments are now mandatory to check a patient is being truthful about their size and health. Are there any risks? Yes – side effects are common but most are relatively mild. Around half of people taking the drug experience gut issues, including sickness, bloating, acid reflux, constipation and diarrhoea. Dr Sarah Jarvis, GP and clinical consultant at said: 'One of the more uncommon side effects is severe acute pancreatitis, which is extremely painful and happens to one in 500 people.' Other uncommon side effects include altered taste, kidney problems, allergic reactions, gallbladder problems and hypoglycemia. Evidence has so far been inconclusive about whether the injections are damaging to patients' mental health. Figures obtained by The Sun show that, up to January 2025, 85 patient deaths in the UK were suspected to be linked to the medicines.
Telegraph
12-06-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Weight-loss drugs could become as common as statins, says England's top doctor
Weight-loss jabs could eventually be doled out like statins, England's top doctor has said. Prof Sir Stephen Powis, medical director of the NHS, said the health service should consider the mass rollout of medication to 'turn the tide' on Britain's obesity crisis. The NHS has been criticised for tightly rationing the jabs, having drawn up a plan for a 12-year rollout. GPs in England will start prescribing the injections from this month, but only to those with severe obesity and at least one weight-related health problem. Until now, jabs have only been available via specialist services with long waiting lists. However, NHS pilot schemes will look at ways to roll them out far more widely, including offering jabs through the post, from online pharmacies. Statins are one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the UK, with about eight million people taking them to cut their chance of a heart attack and stroke. An estimated 1.5 million people are taking weight-loss jabs in the UK, with the vast majority paying for them privately, at around £200 a month. 'Exciting milestone' Speaking at the NHS ConfedExpo conference in Manchester, Sir Stephen hailed the rollout in GP surgeries as an 'exciting milestone' and said NHS officials are also examining ways to ' broaden access to the drugs '. Around 29 per cent of adults in the UK are obese. Sir Stephen said: 'Right now, obesity is estimated to cost the NHS approximately £11.4 billion every year – this financial burden is unsustainable for the NHS and wider economy. 'We have to turn the tide. We have to and will go further, and faster. 'In just a few years from now, some of today's weight-loss drugs will be available at much lower cost. This could completely transform access to these innovative treatments. 'But we will and must be guided by the evidence base and must do this safely and sustainably, in a way that ensures that we are equipped as a health service to deal with the demand.' 'We'll learn how to deploy them better' Sir Stephen said that the 'exciting new class of medication' would see wider rollout in the same way that statins had been rolled out en masse. 'There will be more drugs coming on the market. There will be different prices for drugs. We will get to generics, which means that prices will fall,' he said. 'We have been through this over statins, and the use of statins is now very different from when they first came out, and I've no doubt that will be the same for these drugs. So it's very exciting.' The senior doctor said research suggesting they can prevent and treat multiple diseases, including heart and kidney disease, also meant they were like statins. 'It's highly likely that they will become more widespread, the evidence base will increase. We will learn better how to deploy them,' he said.
Medscape
09-06-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Low-Dose Colchicine May Help Stabilize Coronary Plaques
The LoDoCo2 trial found a reduced cardiovascular risk with low-dose colchicine in patients with chronic coronary disease. In this substudy, attenuation of pericoronary adipose tissue did not differ between patients receiving low-dose colchicine and those receiving placebo; however, people taking colchicine had a higher volume of dense calcified plaque, indicating improved plaque stability. METHODOLOGY: Elevated attenuation of pericoronary adipose tissue and a high burden of noncalcified plaque have been linked to adverse coronary outcomes caused by plaque rupture and instability; statins mitigate these risks by promoting plaque calcification. This cross-sectional substudy of the LoDoCo2 trial investigated if treatment with low-dose colchicine would attenuate coronary inflammation, as evidenced by less attenuation of pericoronary adipose tissue in 151 patients with chronic coronary disease (mean age, 64.4 years; 14% women). Patients were randomly assigned to receive either low-dose colchicine (0.5 mg once daily; n = 79) or placebo (n = 72). All patients had previously undergone coronary stenting at enrollment and were on antiplatelet and/or anticoagulant therapy; high-intensity statin therapy consisted of 40 mg and 80 mg doses of atorvastatin. After a median treatment duration of 28 months, coronary CT angiography (CCTA) was performed to evaluate the attenuation of pericoronary adipose tissue in the proximal segments of epicardial coronary arteries and to assess plaque characteristics. TAKEAWAY: Median attenuation did not differ significantly between the patients receiving colchicine and those receiving placebo. Compared with patients receiving placebo, those receiving colchicine showed a higher calcified plaque burden (adjusted difference, 2.4%), higher calcified plaque volume (adjusted difference, 59 mm 3 ), and higher volume of dense calcified plaque (adjusted difference, 61.5 mm 3 ; P < .05 for all). ), and higher volume of dense calcified plaque (adjusted difference, 61.5 mm ; < .05 for all). In patients on low-intensity statin therapy, colchicine treatment was associated with a lower burden of low-attenuation plaque, an effect not observed in those receiving high-intensity statins ( P for interaction = .037). IN PRACTICE: Low-dose colchicine was associated with an overall higher volume of calcified plaque, particularly dense calcified plaque, as well as a lower burden of low-attenuation plaque in participants treated with colchicine and low-intensity statins,' the researchers wrote. 'Although the cross-sectional design of the study limits causal inference, these are features of plaque stability and may partly explain the reduction in risk of cardiovascular events associated with colchicine in patients with chronic coronary disease.' SOURCE: This study was led by Aernoud T L Fiolet, MD, PhD, of University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands. It was published online on May 19, 2025, in Heart . LIMITATIONS: The researchers conducted this cross-sectional analysis at the end of treatment, without any baseline or temporal studies. This study had relatively fewer women than the proportion of women with cardiovascular disease in the general population. Additional imaging modalities were not used to confirm the findings from CCTA. DISCLOSURES: This study received grants from the Australian National Institutes of Health/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Withering Stichting Nederland, the Netherlands Heart Foundation, and the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development. One author reported receiving software royalties from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Another author reported giving presentations, and three authors reported serving as consultants for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies without receiving any personal fees.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Common cholesterol-busting pill cuts death risk of critical illness 39pc
People who are critically ill with sepsis may be more likely to survive if they are given statins, a new study suggests. Researchers wanted to explore whether the cholesterol-busting drugs may bring additional benefits for patients. The new study examined information on sepsis patients who received statins during a stint in intensive care and compared it with patients in a similar situation who did not receive statins. Some 14.3% of 6,000 sepsis patients who were given statins died within 28 days. This is compared with 23.4% of 6,000 patients who did not receive statin therapy. The research team from China said that this equates to a 39% reduced risk of death within a month. READ MORE: Android users urged to update their phones 'immediately' for this reason READ MORE: Watchdog's warning over prices at Sports Direct The research, based on data from thousands of patients at a hospital in Israel between 2008 and 2019, also found that 7.4% of statin patients died while in the intensive care unit compared with 13.6% of those who did not receive statins. And during their overall hospital stay, some 11.5% of sepsis patients who were given statins died, compared with 19.1% of sepsis patients who did not take statins. However, it appeared that those who were not prescribed statins had a slightly shorter hospital stay compared with those who did receive them – an average of eight days compared with almost 10 days. 'We found that statin users exhibited decreased 28-day all-cause mortality,' the authors wrote in the journal Frontiers in Immunology. Sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection that occurs when the immune system overreacts and starts to damage the body's tissues and organs. In the UK, 245,000 people are affected by sepsis every year. UK sepsis experts said that 'anything which might reduce the burden of a condition which claims one in five lives worldwide needs to be rigorously explored' as they called for larger trials to confirm the findings. Statins are known as cholesterol-busting drugs because they can help lower the level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in the blood. But experts said that they also have other benefits, including reducing inflammation and antibacterial effects. The research team called for larger trials to confirm their findings. 'Our large, matched cohort study found that treatment with statins was associated with a 39% lower death rate for critically ill patients with sepsis, when measured over 28 days after hospital admission,' said Dr Caifeng Li, the study's corresponding author and an associate professor at Tianjin Medical University General Hospital in China. 'These results strongly suggest that statins may provide a protective effect and improve clinical outcomes for patients with sepsis.' Commenting on the study, Dr Ron Daniels, founder and chief executive of the UK Sepsis Trust, said: 'It has been known for some time that the anti-inflammatory properties of statins confer a survival benefit on those who take them if they develop sepsis. Whilst previous studies have failed to show a similar survival benefit in treating people with sepsis with statins, this new study supports calls for a large, multi-country, randomised control trial. 'Anything which might reduce the burden of a condition which claims one in five lives worldwide needs to be rigorously explored.'
Daily Mail
06-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Statins almost halve the risk of death in patients critically ill with sepsis
Taking statins can improve the chances of surviving sepsis by 40 per cent, a trial has found. Sepsis can occur when the body's immune system overreacts to an infection and attacks its own organs. It is notoriously difficult to spot because the telltale symptoms, such as a fever and muscle pain, can be easily mistaken for signs of a common cold or other infection. Statins lower cholesterol to prevent heart attacks and strokes and are taken by around 5 million adults in the UK. But experts say they have other benefits, including reducing inflammation and fighting bacteria that can ultimately lead to sepsis. The study compared survival rates of sepsis patients given statins and those who were not during a hospital stay. It found the pills reduced the risk of death for those critically ill with the condition by 39 per cent. The study compared survival rates of sepsis patients given statins and those who were not during a hospital stay. It found the pills reduced the risk of death for those critically ill with the condition by 39 per cent (file image) In intensive care, 14.3 per cent of 6,000 sepsis patients given statins died within 28 days, compared with 23.4 per cent of 6,000 patients who were not. For those no longer in a critical condition, 11 per cent given statins died compared to 19 per cent who were not. Dr Caifeng Li, of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital in China and the study's author said: 'These results suggest that statins may provide a protective effect and improve clinical outcomes for patients with sepsis.' Researchers believe the drugs may help with sepsis by helping to combat bacteria directly, reducing the toll infection takes on the body. Earlier this year another study found the pills could also slash dementia risk – even in patients who don't have high cholesterol. The sepsis study, published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology, was based on data from thousands of patients at an Israeli hospital over a decade. Dr Ron Daniels, founder and chief executive of the UK Sepsis Trust, said: 'This study supports calls for a large, multi-country, randomised control trial. 'Anything which might reduce the burden of a condition which claims one in five lives worldwide needs to be rigorously explored.' Sepsis is known as the 'silent killer'. For every hour of delay in treatment, a patient's chance of dying increases 8 per cent. If caught early, it can be treated with antibiotics and fluids. Symptoms include slurred speech or confusion, shivering or muscle pain, passing no urine in a day, severe breathlessness and mottled or discoloured skin. Blood test to spot Alzheimer's early A Blood test for Alzheimer's can accurately detect the disease early, a study suggests. The test was 95 per cent accurate in identifying people with memory problems. It also scored 82 per cent for specificity, which means it was highly accurate in ruling out people without dementia. The study, published in the journal Alzheimer's and Dementia, found proteins amyloid beta 42/40 and p-tau217 in blood plasma can be examined to diagnose the condition. The study was carried out on more than 500 people in an outpatient memory clinic. The blood test has already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration regulator in the US.
