New agreement between Novartis and the NHS enables broad and rapid access to cholestrol lowering medicine ‘Inclisiran’.
In December 2019, an in-principle agreement was made between UK Government, the NHS in England and Novartis UK. ₁
The agreement proposed to pioneer a population-level approach to reducing the risk posed by elevated LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) through the implementation of a new, first-in-class LDL-C lowering therapy, inclisiran.
Contingent on a positive recommendation by NICE, on 1 September 2021 the inclisiran programme will begin and work will be started to implement the molecule appropriately into the lipid management pathway across England. The medicine will likely be initiated and maintained by primary care providers, namely by Primary Care Networks (PCNs), with support from secondary care colleagues where appropriate.
One of the key goals of the agreement between Novartis and the NHS is to lower LDL-C by ~50%, with a twice-yearly maintenance-dose administration of inclisiran, in approximately 300,000 of the ~3.3 million people living with ASCVD in the UK over the next three years.
The British Cardiovascular Society commented;
“Coronary heart disease remains the number one killer in the UK and the leading cause of premature death. Now more than ever, it is crucial that there is a proactive, population level effort to reduce levels of LDL cholesterol. This collaboration is welcome news and we look forward to supporting the NHS to ensure the benefits of this programme can be fully realised and that patients living with high-risk cardiovascular disease uncontrolled on their statin, can access Inclisiran where it is appropriate.”
Read more at: https://www.novartis.co.uk/nhs-england-and-nhs-improvement
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