One of Britain’s leading health experts has accused GPs of denying patients a life-saving drug that could reduce levels of deadly “bad” cholesterol by more than 50 per cent.
Leading scientist Professor Sir John Bell, former president of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said GPs have refused to administer the inclisiran injection – which could save 30,000 lives – because they are “not paid enough” to manage the extra workload it would entail.
Commenting on this week’s damning report into NHS failings by Lord Darzi, Professor Bell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The NHS was very enthusiastic and said we were going to distribute doses of this (cholesterol vaccine) to 700,000 people in the first year.
‘The case reached the GPs and they said: “We’re sorry, but we’re not going to be able to do it.”
“They were not paid enough for the injection they were going to give and they blocked it.”
The twice-yearly injection, called inclisiran, was approved for use on the NHS in 2021 for patients with persistently high cholesterol levels who have already suffered a heart attack.
Professor Bell added that GPs said they did not have enough time to administer the injections.
“I think the medical profession is stuck in a certain way of life and a certain way of practicing medicine, they are deeply conservative and it is very difficult to move them to another place.”
The twice-yearly vaccine, called inclisiran, was approved for use on the NHS in 2021 for patients with persistently high cholesterol levels who have already suffered a heart attack.
England’s National Health Service said the drug could prevent 55,000 heart attacks and strokes over the next decade, saving 30,000 lives, at a cost of just £45 a dose.
It is thought to be a useful alternative to statins, which only a third of those taking the drug remember to take, according to studies.
But the British Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners said last year that administering the shot would put “extra capacity into resources”.
Professor Sir John Bell, who was a member of the Covid Vaccine Taskforce, today claimed that GPs were refusing to administer the life-saving drug because they are not paid enough.
This comes as Keir Starmer warns the NHS must “reform or die” after a damning report found billions of pounds in extra investment has failed to improve performance.
In a round of interviews this morning ahead of the Prime Minister’s maiden speech, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the NHS “unquestionably” wastes money and could “go bust” without fundamental change.
He also criticised the BMA – which is also a regulator and industry body – for sabre-rattling.
Professor Bell echoed concerns about the BMA, saying it has been a “huge drag” on reform.
He said he does not believe the NHS is underfunded, but says the service needs to get better at using the money it already has.
He raised the situation of inclisiran as an example of this.
Professor Bell said: ‘The really cool thing is that you can get one shot and reduce your cholesterol by 50 percent for a year.
‘You don’t need to remember to take your statin pills.’
He explained that the NHS had access to the drug at a reduced price.
‘There was an agreement with the company that manufactured it, called Medicines Company, that the National Health Service We would get it because the NHS has done a lot of trials and we got it at a bargain price, the cheapest ever,’ he added.
However, patients are unable to receive the injections due to lack of cooperation from family doctors, he said.
Inclisiran, also known as Leqvio, is a drug that lowers LDL or “bad” cholesterol, which damages artery walls, causing a buildup of plaque that can block blood supply and trigger a heart attack or stroke.
In contrast, “good” cholesterol, known as HDL, helps remove other forms of cholesterol from the bloodstream. Higher levels of HDL are associated with a lower risk of heart disease.
Inclisiran is a small interfering RNA, or siRNA, that acts at the genetic level to inhibit the production of PCSK9, a protein involved in regulating LDL. Reducing PCSK9 helps the liver remove more LDL from the blood.
And the need for this drug is clear. For decades, statins — daily pills that lower LDL levels by 30 to 50 percent — have been the gold standard for high cholesterol.
More than eight million Britons take the pills, which are offered to anyone with a greater than 10 per cent risk of having a heart attack or stroke in the next 10 years.
However, research shows that about half of those who take them fail to achieve healthy cholesterol levels. Some stop taking the drug, while others find they can’t take a high enough dose, often blaming side effects such as muscle aches.
This medicine is designed to be taken with statins or other cholesterol-lowering medications to ensure that cholesterol levels are lowered sufficiently.
In a bid to boost its uptake, inclisiran’s maker The Medicines Company, part of Novartis, earlier this year cut the cost of the injection from about £2,500 to £45.
Inclisiran was approved in 2021 for high-risk patients by the drug watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), after trials showed it dramatically reduced LDL levels and there were no safety concerns.
NICE said there was a clear need for more cholesterol-lowering drugs to reduce the number of heart attacks and strokes being dealt with by the NHS (each accounting for around 100,000 hospital admissions each year in the UK).
But the RCGP and BMA almost immediately issued a joint statement in December last year questioning the decision.
He said it was not clear from the trial data how much inclisiran reduced the number of heart attacks and strokes.
Concerns were also raised about “possible as yet unknown long-term side effects” and the “possible additional capacity or resources” GPs would have if they were to prescribe it.