A MAJOR breakthrough has been made for millions of people with high blood pressure – as the world’s first jab could replace daily drugs.
British medics have been trialling a world-first injection to control the “silent killer” condition, which is a leading cause of strokes and heart attacks.
Millions of Brits currently take daily pills to keep their blood pressure in order.
But experts at Queen Mary University of London have been carrying out a trial involving an injection that is given every six months.
The medication, known as Zilebesiran and made by US-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, works by targeting a key hormone produced by the liver.
Researchers recruited 107 patients with hypertension, of whom 80 were given an injection of zilebesiran under their skin and 32 received a placebo with no active ingredients.
Five of the 32 patients who received the placebo were later given zilebesiran.
Initial analysis shows that volunteers who were given zilebesiran experienced a significant drop in systolic blood pressure which lasted up to six months, MailOnline reports.
Systolic blood pressure, namely the pressure in your arteries when your heart beats, lowered by more than 10mmHg at least a 200mg dose and 20mmHg at the highest of 800mg.
The drop can take a patient’s high blood pressure into a safer range.
High blood pressure is the biggest single trigger of heart disease and stroke.
It is known as the silent killer, because the symptoms often go unnoticed until it is too late.
Under NHS rules, it is a reading over 140/90mmHg – with around 12 million people eligible for treatment.
Despite high blood pressure being difficult to treat due to its fluctuations across a day, the zilebesiran medication resulted in a consistent drop over 24 hours.
Zilebesiran prevents the production of angiotensin, a hormone that narrows blood vessels and causes blood pressure to rise.
Reporting their preliminary data, the research group said: “Overall, these preliminary data… support the potential for further study of quarterly or twice-yearly administration of zilebesiran as a treatment for patients with hypertension.”
Professor David Webb, who led the trial in Edinburgh, added: “This is a potentially major development in hypertension. There has not been a new class of drug licensed for the treatment of high blood pressure in the last 17 years.
“This novel approach leads to a substantial reduction in blood pressure, both by day and night, that lasts for around six months after a single injection.”
High blood pressure is the biggest single trigger of heart disease and stroke.
It is known as the silent killer, because the symptoms often go unnoticed until it is too late.
Under NHS rules, it is a reading over 140/90mmHg – with around 12 million people eligible for treatment.
Pressure on the artery walls can also damage organs, with complications including vision loss, dementia, heart failure, an aneurysm and kidney disease.
In about one in 20 cases, high blood pressure happens as the result of an underlying health condition or taking a certain medicine, the NHS says.
