More than a million people with heart disease could be prescribed weight loss jabs on the NHS to prevent them from having heart attacks or strokes.
Sold under the brand name Wegovy and made by Novo Nordisk, the weekly jab is a type of drug called a GLP-1 receptor agonist. It works by mimicking the natural hormone which regulates blood sugar, appetite and digestion.
The drug can be prescribed to lower blood sugar in people living with type 2 diabetes, but can also help people to lose weight and has been shown to work directly on the heart and blood vessels.
Now the NHS’s spending watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), has given the green light to give semaglutide to overweight and obese patients living with certain heart and circulatory conditions.
It is expected that 1.2 million people across England could benefit.
Naveed Sattar, Professor of Cardiometabolic Medicine at the University of Glasgow, said the move was a “genuine win–win” that will improve patients’ quality of life.
“We now have medicines that not only reduce heart attacks, strokes, and peripheral arterial disease, but also simultaneously lead to meaningful weight loss – which in turn lowers the risk of many weight‑related conditions,” Prof Sattar said.
“Given that so many people living with cardiovascular disease also struggle with excess weight, it’s no longer sufficient to focus solely on lipids and blood pressure. We must also address weight directly if we want to deliver the best possible outcomes for our patients,” he added.
According to new guidance the weight loss jab can be used by patients with a body mass index (BMI) score of 27 or over in addition to other medicines, such as statins, and alongside a reduced calorie diet and increased exercise to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
While Semaglutide is already available on the NHS in England as a treatment option for people with obesity, the new guidance means more people will be eligible to take the drugs on the health service.
In the UK there are around 100,000 hospital admissions each year due to heart attacks and 100,000 people have strokes each year – but being over weight can increase the risk.
Excess body fat can lead to fatty material building up in the arteries and if the arteries that carry blood to the heart get damaged and clogged, it can lead to a heart attack, according to the British Heart Foundation.
Being overweight can also increase the risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes – which are all risk factors for heart disease.
Nice said that evidence from a clinical trial shows the weight loss jab reduces the risk of a heart attack, stroke or cardiovascular death even before patients lose a significant amount of weight.
There was a 20 per cent reduced risk of a major heart event among the 17,604 people who took part in the study.
Nice said that its evaluation shows the treatment is “cost effective” for NHS use with Health service officials suggesting it could be available “within months”.
“The evidence from the clinical trial is compelling. It showed that people taking semaglutide alongside their existing heart medicines were significantly less likely to have another heart attack or stroke,” Helen Knight, director of medicines evaluation at Nice.
Helen Williams, national clinical director for cardiovascular disease prevention at NHS England, added: “For more than a million people at high risk of heart attack and stroke, this treatment on the NHS could be life-changing – offering a powerful new way to protect their hearts and improve their health.”
Health minister Sharon Hodgson said the drug has been a “game changer” when it comes to tackling obesity and extending it to people with cardiovascular disease “will be a life saver.”
Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, clinical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “So-called ‘weight loss drugs’ like semaglutide have proven benefits beyond reducing the number on the scales – they are now considered important medicines for preventing deadly heart attacks and strokes.
“Today’s guidance will no doubt help save lives as cardiovascular disease is still one of the country’s biggest killers.”
Sebnem Avsar Tuna, general manager for Novo Nordisk UK, said the move was an “important step”, adding: “It means clinicians in England now have access to a further treatment that Nice has found to be cost effective, the first and only GLP-1 receptor agonist proven to reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke or cardiovascular death in this high risk population.”