News

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is identified in the NHS Long Term Plan as the single biggest area where lives can be saved in the next ten years. Inclisiran, a new cholesterol lowering medication is being rolled out at scale across England to complement the existing lipid-management pathway, drive down health inequalities and help to prevent outpatient appointments.

The lipid-management and familial hypercholesterolemia programme is becoming well established across the country to identify and treat patients with lipid dysfunction. Inclisiran bridges a gap in the lipid-management pathway, currently being updated by the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) and provides a new treatment option for patients who have had a CVD event and are not responding to maximally tolerated statins or rapid-uptake medications such as PCSK9 inhibitors, ezetimibe and bempedoic acid.

Approved by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), Inclisiran removes harmful LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) from the blood and in three studies across over 3,700 patients, is proven to reduce LDL-C by 50 per cent.

In this first NHS population health agreement with Novartis Pharmaceuticals Ltd, NHS England and Improvement (NHSEI) is working with all 15 AHSNs to systematically introduce Inclisiran with an aim of treating 65,000 patients in Yorkshire and Humber region alone by the end of March 2024.

The NHS is using this commercial deal as an opportunity to detect and treat a large and growing population affected by CVD, helping to secure maximum value from the NHS budget for new medicines. Inclisiran is available to order now, and local health and care systems are encouraged to begin targeted local adoption, with data tools in the pipeline to help identify eligible patients and discuss Inclisiran as a treatment option.

You can find out more about lipid-management and Inclisiran in some recent Accelerated Access Collaborative webinar recordings and register for the third event taking place on 15 December looking at early Inclisiran adoption best practice.

Next steps

Your regional Inclisiran lead is Adele Bunch and Adele is having conversations with stakeholders across the system to discuss and support local implementation. If your work is related to CVD and lipids optimisation in the Yorkshire and Humber region whether that be as an Integrated Care System lead, within a Trust, Primary Care Network, General Practice, pharmacy or as a local lipid specialist, please get in touch with adele.bunch@yhahsn.com and find out how we can support you.

You can also download our latest guidance which provides information on Inclisiran and important next steps to support local adoption.