{"id":358148,"date":"2026-04-01T06:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T06:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/358148\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T06:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T06:52:08","slug":"over-one-million-britons-to-be-handed-weight-loss-drugs-on-nhs-to-prevent-heart-attacks-and-strokes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/358148\/","title":{"rendered":"Over one million Britons to be handed weight-loss drugs on NHS to prevent heart attacks and strokes"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than one million Britons are to be given weight loss drugs on the NHS to prevent against heart attacks and strokes.<\/p>\n

The NHS spending watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), has said Britons with heart disease can now be prescribed semaglutide.<\/p>\n

Sold under brand name Wegovy and made by Novo Nordisk, the weekly jab will be given to patients living with certain heart and circulatory conditions to cut their risk of a major cardiovascular event.<\/p>\n

Wegovy is a type of GLP-1 receptor which slows down how quickly food is digested, leading to weight loss.<\/p>\n

But Nice has found the drug works directly on the heart and blood vessels, according to clinical trials conducted by the watchdog.<\/p>\n

It is expected 1.2 million people across England could benefit from the decision.<\/p>\n

The new guidance will allow its use by patients with a body mass index (BMI) score of 27 or over in addition to other medicines, including statins and a reduced calorie diet and increased exercise.<\/p>\n

Nice’s study found that benefits were seen before patients lost a significant amount of weight, indicating the drug did affect the heart and blood vessels.<\/p>\n

\"Wegovy\"\/<\/p>\n

1.2 million people across England could benefit from the decision to allow Wegovy to be prescribed for heart disease<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

PA<\/p>\n

And the risk of a heart attack was reduced by 20 per cent among the 17,604 people who took part in the study.<\/p>\n

Semaglutide is already available on the NHS in England for those with obesity, and under the name Ozempic for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.<\/p>\n

Health minister Sharon Hodgson said weight loss drugs were a “game changer” for tackling obesity.<\/p>\n

“Extending their use for people who also suffer from cardiovascular disease will be a life saver,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Novo<\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk manufactures Wegovy, which it describes as the ‘only GLP-1 receptor agonist proven to reduce the risk of heart attack’<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Nice said the evaluation proved the treatment was “cost effective” for the NHS.<\/p>\n

Officials have said the treatment will be available through the NHS “within months”.<\/p>\n

Helen Knight, director of medicines evaluation at Nice, said: “We know that people who have already had a heart attack or stroke are living with real fear that it could happen again.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

\"Health<\/p>\n

Health minister Sharon Hodgson said weight loss drugs were a ‘game changer’ for tackling obesity<\/p>\n

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HOUSE OF COMMONS<\/p>\n

Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, clinical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “So-called \u2018weight loss drugs\u2019 like semaglutide have proven benefits beyond reducing the number on the scales \u2013 they are now considered important medicines for preventing deadly heart attacks and strokes.<\/p>\n

“Today\u2019s guidance will no doubt help save lives as cardiovascular disease is still one of the country\u2019s biggest killers.”<\/p>\n

Sebnem Avsar Tuna, general manager for Novo Nordisk UK, said the move was a “important step”.<\/p>\n

She added: “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.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than one million Britons are to be given weight loss drugs on the NHS to prevent against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[134,524,111,43,139,1374,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-358148","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-medication","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nhs","14":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}