A million heart failure patients receive ‘King Kong’ from fat sticks – and Ozempic may soon be available as a patch

The majority of Britain’s million patients with debilitating heart failure could be offered a controversial weight-loss jab from next month.

Last night, crucial trial results were revealed showing that the drug, tirzepatide, reduced the risk of death or worsening of disease by more than a third – making it the first drug to have a significant impact on the most common form of the condition.

Experts immediately hailed it as a ‘new cornerstone of treatment’, adding that the jabs had the potential to cut hospital admissions for heart failure by tens of thousands – saving vital NHS money and easing the pain of patients and their families was illuminated.

Tirzepatide, sold under the brand name Mounjaro, is one of a new generation of weight-loss drugs that have transformed the treatment of obesity and its related diseases.

In early studies, patients taking it lost 20 percent of their body weight, leading doctors to call it the “King Kong” of weight-loss drugs.

It has already won the backing of Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who last month announced a five-year £279m deal with maker Eli Lilly to supply thousands of doses to the NHS.

Mr Streeting said he plans to offer the jabs to the unemployed to see if shedding pounds could improve their employment prospects.

The NHS spending watchdog approved tirzepatide for diabetics in June and is expected to give it the green light for weight loss next month – at which point cardiologists can prescribe it to most heart failure patients.

Tirzepatide is expected to get the green light for weight loss next month – at which point cardiologists will be able to prescribe it to most heart failure patients.

Volunteers on the three-year trial had heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, or HFpEF, which is caused by obesity and accounts for up to 70 percent of heart failure cases.

Despite the large number of patients, very few doctors have been able to improve patients’ chances so far, because drugs that work in other forms of heart failure have little effect. Trial patients all lost weight, but benefits were seen after just three months. Experts concluded that the drug must have effects beyond just helping with weight loss.

‘What’s really impressive about this is the magnitude of the effect,’ says world-renowned heart failure expert Dr Milton Packer, Visiting Professor at Imperial College, who led the research.

“Other medications to treat heart failure offer a 13 to 18 percent reduction in the risk of disease worsening,” he said. ‘Tirzepatide offers a 38 percent reduction – and I think this is because it addresses the root cause of the disease.’

Heart failure is an incurable disease in which the heart no longer pumps as well as it should.

Symptoms include extreme shortness of breath and life-threatening fatigue, and only half of patients live more than five years after their diagnosis.

It can be caused by heart attack, blocked arteries and genetics, but obesity is believed to be a major cause in almost all cases. Fat deposits are thought to build up around internal organs, releasing inflammatory substances that damage the heart.

In the trial, researchers found that tirzepatide lowered levels of inflammatory proteins in the body — a sign, they said, that it had an effect beyond just weight loss.

The number of people with heart failure has risen dramatically in recent decades, with 200,000 new cases and 100,000 related emergency admissions in the UK every year.

The findings come after tirzepatide was linked to the death of a British nurse earlier this month. This is believed to be the first fatality officially attributed to drugs in Britain.

Now Ozempic could come as a patch

For one in ten users of the slimming drug Ozempic, the weekly injections can be traumatic and painful.

Now scientists have developed a skin patch that works just as well, but without any discomfort. And it only needs to be replaced once a month.

The patch, worn on the upper arm, is packed with hundreds of tiny ‘microneedles’ that pierce the skin, allowing the drug to seep into the body, but without going so deep as to touch the nerves and cause pain.

Britain has the highest obesity rates in Europe. The rise of Ozempic has raised hopes of reducing the health risks associated with obesity, such as heart disease and cancer.

The patch was developed by researchers at the University of Connecticut in the US.

Tests showed it delivered a steady stream of drugs that lasted at least a month.

Scientists now plan to conduct clinical trials on obese patients.