HEALTH NOTES: MoS victory as drug chiefs approve breakthrough type 2 diabetes jab tirzepatide

Drugs chiefs approved a breakthrough jab for type 2 diabetes following urgent calls to do so by The Mail on Sunday last week.

NICE, the UK’s prescription watchdog, gave the green light for weight-loss drug tirzepatide on Friday, just days after the MoS revealed scammers were using social media app TikTok to flog dangerous fakes to desperate diabetes patients who have been hit by a shortage of the similar weight-loss drug, semaglutide.

Tirzepatide suppresses the appetite, which causes weight loss and boosts levels of insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar. Both are essential to control type 2 diabetes.

In trials, a third of patients taking the drug shed more than 20 per cent of their body weight in a year, making it twice as effective as semaglutide, the jab currently approved for type 2 diabetes.

Since semaglutide was approved for weight loss in March, patients with diabetes have struggled to get hold of it.

Number of smokers drops to all-time low 

The number of smokers in the UK has dropped to the lowest on record.

Some 12.9 per cent of over-18s smoke cigarettes, compared to 13.3 per cent in 2021 and 20 per cent in 2011 when records began, according to the Office for National Statistics. It means about 6.4 million adults are smokers.

Deborah Arnott, public health expert and chief executive of the anti-smoking charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said much of the decline is likely due to the increased use of vaping, adding that it’s a ‘very successful aid to quitting smoking’.

In 2019 the Government pledged to make Britain virtually smoke free by 2030 – with fewer than five per cent of Britons smoking cigarettes.

But a Cancer Research report last year warned that the UK would need at least another decade to reach this target.

The number of smokers in the UK has dropped to the lowest on record

Kidney disease patients could soon receive a daily pill that slows the progression of the deadly condition, after new drug empagliflozin was approved by health chiefs.

Chronic kidney disease – where damage to the kidneys stops them from working properly – affects seven million people in the UK. It can be triggered by a number of conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity, as well as alcohol abuse.

Over time, patients can eventually require a kidney transplant.

But studies show that patients who were given empagliflozin were significantly less likely to experience irreversible kidney damage or end up in hospital with complications caused by the disease.

The drug works by increasing the amount of sugar and salt that passes through the kidney into the urine. A build-up of these substances can damage the organ.

Last week, the UK’s drug safety regulator MHRA approved empagliflozin for use. Experts now hope that health chiefs will agree to fund it for all NHS patients.