Weight-loss jabs could usher in a ‘golden age’ of medicine that could boost the number of people in the UK who live longer than average, experts say.
The injections, which include the likes of Mounjaro and Wegovy, were originally developed to combat obesity.
But they have been found to have a range of other benefits including delaying diseases associated with ageing and slash the risk of heart attacks in half.
Experts have discovered the drugs, called GLP-1 agonists, target the ‘underlying biology’ of chronic illness meaning they could be given to millions of more patients even if they are a healthy weight.
Doctors have said that the jabs mark the start of a new ‘golden age’ of medicine.
One trial—presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Malaga involving 17,000 patients—found the medications halved deaths from strokes and heart attacks.
Experts have now suggested that up to half of Britons could benefit from the jabs to ‘live longer in good health.’
Professor Jason Halford, from the European Association of Obesity, told The Times: ‘It is clear that the earlier people start on weight loss drugs, the better.
Weight-loss jabs could usher in a ‘golden age’ of medicine that could boost the number of Britons living a century, experts say
Currently the drugs are being rationed on the NHS, being given to just 50,000 people but now the Government is being urged to expand access.
Professor Halford added: ‘If the Government and the NHS are serious about prevention they need to reconsider their position on the speed of roll out of these drugs.’
It was also revealed at the conference that another 150 similar drugs are now being developed by pharmaceutical firms.
Professor John Deanfield, a cardiologist at University College London, said that this is ‘extraordinary’ and a ‘scenario we have never seen in medicine before.’
‘These drugs do remarkable things to improve many diseases,’ he said.
‘They have shown benefits on heart disease, liver disease, kidney disease, cancer, mood and mental health.
One of the latest breakthroughs is a pill that mimics the effect of a gastric bypass which has been touted as the latest weight loss miracle.
Some experts say it may even be more effective than fat jabs in the long term.
The capsules produce a temporary coating in the gut that prevents food from being absorbed, forcing it into the lower intestine and triggering hormones that make you feel full.
Its manufacturers say it may have advantages over weight-loss injections such as Ozempic and Mounjaro, including having fewer side effects and being easier to take.
It is also far safer and less invasive than actual gastric bypass surgery.
Rahul Dhanda, chief executive of Syntis Bio, makers of the pill, said: ‘The problem is [fat jabs] are not very tolerable and patients want to come off them.
‘You want to have a long-term maintenance therapy, and an oral pill is the rational choice because it’s simple, tolerable and safe.
‘What we’re seeing now is patients and clinics being more focused on having something safe and sustainable to keep on a manageable, sustainable weight-loss path.
‘I anticipate the side effects to be minimal to none, and we haven’t seen any yet in human tests. That is because it doesn’t enter the bloodstream like injections do.
‘It’s a mechanical molecule, so it’s like we’re inserting a stent, as opposed to a drug that is acting with the target, and also off the target.’
By binding to the mucous membrane lining of the duodenum – the top of the intestine near the stomach – the pills create a barrier that stops calories being absorbed.
It forces food directly into the lower part of the digestive system, the pills set off a ‘cascade’ of hormones including GLP-1, the same chemical mimicked by semaglutide jab Wegovy.
It also causes the body to stop producing ghrelin, which makes you feel hungry, and start producing leptin, which makes you feel satisfied.
The person taking the pill feels full more quickly and stops eating.
The coating created by the pill sheds naturally after about 24 hours, leaving no trace.
The effect is similar to gastric bypass, in which surgeons make the stomach smaller and shorten the small intestine, changing how the body absorbs food and leaving people feeling fuller after eating less.
In rats, the drug caused the animals to lose 1 per cent of their bodyweight per week while preserving 100 per cent of their lean muscle mass.
Trials in humans have not studied weight loss but found the pills cause no harmful side effects.
If they prove effective in further trials, the pills could help patients maintain a healthy weight after intensive weight-loss with jabs, or replace the injections entirely.
Dr Louis Aronne of Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City told the conference that a ‘golden age’ of treatment had begun with these new drugs.
The Times reported he was pushing for health providers, including the NHS, to ‘roll them out at scale’, adding: ‘I think use of drugs like this will prevent the need for many other medications, procedures, and surgeries.
‘We are just beginning to see in how many ways they can help.’
