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Heart and kidney disease trials put pressure on the NHS to open up drug to millions
Ozempic could offer “the fountain of youth” and turn back the clock on a host of diseases, scientists have found.
In an unprecedented development, 11 studies published in one day found that the new class of semaglutide medications have “far-reaching benefits” beyond what was ever imagined.
The findings will put pressure on the NHS to roll the drugs out much more widely, like statins.
Currently, only patients who are obese or who have type 2 diabetes can access semaglutide drugs on the health service.
The injections are marketed as Ozempic for type 2 diabetes and as Wegovy for weight loss.
However, the studies suggest millions of people, including those who are not overweight, could potentially benefit from the drugs to improve quality of life, possibly saving the health service much-needed funds.
The breakthroughs will heap pressure on the Government to harness new advances to overhaul Britain’s health, rather than resorting to “nanny state” measures.
The research comes after Sir Keir Starmer confirmed that the Government could ban smoking in pub gardens, arguing that the move would reduce the burden on the NHS.
It also comes weeks after a breakthrough Alzheimer’s drug was blocked from use on the NHS, with the watchdog arguing that lecanemab did not represent value for money despite experts saying the treatment slowed cognitive decline by almost a third in patients.
Semaglutide was found to have improved conditions including high blood pressure and heart and kidney disease in the research.
Prof Harlan M Krumholz, one of Yale University’s leading professors, said the “mind-blowing” results showed the drugs appeared to slow down standard markers for ageing, in a way no other medication had achieved.
He said: “We talk about this epigenetic clock…could this actually slow the clock down?” he said, adding he subscribed to the theory that it could slow down the process of biological ageing.
“Is it a fountain of youth… I would say if you’re improving someone’s cardiometabolic health substantially, then you are putting them in a position to live longer and better.”
The scientist and editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology said the injections acted as a “multi-drug” and “health promoter” which could do far more than any supplement or pill to extend life.
He added: “We have really strong evidence that yes, we may be putting people in a position to live longer and better. There are measures of how fast we’re biologically ageing and it wouldn’t surprise me that improving people’s health this way actually slows down the ageing process.”
The studies, presented at the European Society of Cardiology congress in London, showed remarkable results against multiple diseases and unlocked the secret of how anti-obesity medication works.
Scientists said the impact of the medications reducing inflammation in the body appeared to explain why they can protect against such a wide range of diseases.
The experts likened inflammation in the body to a “thermostat” which the injections are able to turn down.
The development of many common and deadly conditions, including diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease has been linked to inflammation of the immune system.
Research found semaglutide, which is marketed as Ozempic for treatment of diabetes, and Wegovy for weight loss, was able to achieve results never seen before in cardiac medicine.
Studies found it was able to cut deaths by up to one-third, control previously untreatable blood pressure, and reverse kidney disease.
Leading scientists said the “groundbreaking” medications were poised to “revolutionise cardiovascular care” and make some of the best-known treatments redundant.
They said the drugs have the potential to improve health for whole populations and could bring benefits even for those who were not overweight.
Semaglutide, manufactured by Novo Nordisk, is one of a class of medications which work by mimicking the hormone GLP-1 to repress appetite and make people feel fuller more quickly.
Several studies found that the benefits of the jabs were independent of the amount of weight lost.
Many of the new analyses came from a landmark trial of more than 17,000 people aged 45 and over who were given weekly jabs.
One paper, led by researchers from Harvard University, found that those given the injections during the pandemic who went on to get Covid had death rates one-third lower than those not given jabs.
Dr Jeremy Samuel Faust, from Harvard Medical School, said the injections were so powerful they were “akin to a vaccine” which would only get stronger over time.
John Deanfield, a professor of cardiology at University College London, said that by targeting inflammatory biology, medicine could “alter the evolution and the consequences of multiple diseases”.
Prof Deanfield, one of the UK’s most eminent cardiologists, said: “Not only can you prevent or delay an individual disease by early intervention, but you might be able to alter the outcome for a whole set of diseases of ageing we’d all like to avoid.”
Last month, a study by Imperial College London found they may slow cognitive decline and reduce brain shrinkage, while studies are also underway to see whether the jabs can prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
Prof Deanfield, the director of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Outcomes Research, said the breakthroughs were “incredibly exciting” and transformed drugs first designed for diabetes treatment, now also prescribed for weight loss, into an entirely new category of medicine.
Findings so far suggest that patients may be able to benefit from the drugs even if they are not overweight, he said.
The studies included research on 1,445 obese patients suffering from heart failure which showed the jabs had a powerful impact on markers of inflammation.
Levels of C reactive protein – a key indicator of inflammation – fell by 43 per cent in a year, the international collaboration involving the University of Toronto, Mayo Clinic, Universities of Glasgow and Leicester found.
Lead author Prof Subodh Verma, from St Michael’s Hospital, in Toronto, Canada, said: “Semaglutide acts independently of changes in body weight to reduce inflammation. That is an important and novel message. Even people who lost five, ten, 15 per cent of body weight, the degree of inflammation reduction was the same.”
The injections were also found to control high blood pressure among patients for whom no other treatment worked, in a study of 3,316 patients led by Trinity College Dublin.
Research on a subgroup of 111 patients with treatment-resistant hypertension, meaning they were already taking at least four types of medication, found 36 per cent got their blood pressure entirely under control.
Study author Dr Cormac Kennedy, from Trinity College Dublin, said: “Semaglutide has worked where other medications have failed.
“Patients with resistant hypertension are on three, four, five medications. These are high-risk people who have heart attacks and strokes. They’re very difficult to treat.”
Analysis
US research on patients with kidney disease and type two diabetes found death rates from cardiovascular causes fell by 29 per cent in 3.4 years.
The study, which involved scientists from the Advent Health Translational Research Institute in Orlando, and the University of Washington, said there were “multiple lines of evidence” to show that the impact of semaglutide on heart failure was likely to be independent of weight loss.
Last year the National Institute recommended that the injections should be prescribed to about 50,000 people for weight loss. But patients can only get the jabs on the NHS if they are referred to specialist services, which have long waits.
They can also only access Ozempic on the health service if they have type two diabetes and Wegovy if they are obese or have a BMI of 27 along with other specific health conditions.
Tens of thousands more patients are obtaining the drugs privately, at costs of around £200 a month.
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