A limited number of community pharmacies across East London are delivering the cholesterol-lowering inclisiran injections that is currently available only in hospital lipid clinics.
The move is aimed to reduce pressure on lipid clinics that are already stretched to capacity with long waiting lists.
The pilot project, funded by British Heart Foundation (BHF) and run by Barts Health NHS Trust and UCLPartners, involves three pharmacies Anjis Dispensing Chemist in Waltham Forest, Rohpharm Pharmacy branches in Ilford and Plaistow.
If the scheme is successful, it will be rolled out in other NHS trusts across the country.
Inclisiran is a twice-yearly injection given under the skin, usually around the stomach.
Clinical trials have shown that inclisiran lowers low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or ‘bad’ cholesterol, by around 50 per cent, and it has got NICE approval.
Low LDL cholesterol levels lower heart attack and stroke risks, and inclisiran can help patients with stubbornly high cholesterol.
Professor Riyaz Patel, Consultant Cardiologist at Barts Heart Centre, who is leading the pilot, said: “The people who will be joining the study have heart disease and are all in great need of more cholesterol-lowering therapy, beyond tablets, to reduce their risk of future problems, but also often find it difficult to attend hospital appointments to receive these advanced treatments."
He said that delivering injections at pharmacies will reduce hospital appointments and address healthcare inequalities.
BHF director of health partnerships and programmes Judy O’Sullivan said: “We’re proud to support programmes like this, which are reaching out into communities that may find it harder to access healthcare, to make sure everyone gets a fair opportunity to improve and maintain their heart health.”
UCLPartners Chief Executive Officer Chris Laing said: “Bringing inclisiran into community pharmacies is a great example of health innovation working in practice. By working with our partners to adopt and test new approaches in real clinical settings, we build the evidence and experience needed to help make effective treatments available to patients closer to home.”
