High blood pressure is a common health problem that affects millions of people around the world. Right now, most people manage it by taking medicine every day.
But this doesn’t always work well. In fact, more than half of people who are told to take blood pressure medicine often forget to take it. This puts them at higher risk for serious health problems like heart attacks, strokes, or even early death.
That’s why scientists have been looking for a better solution. A new drug called zilebesiran might be the answer. Researchers from different universities, including the University of Edinburgh, have been studying this drug, and the results so far look very promising.
Unlike the usual pills taken every day, zilebesiran is given as a single injection. One shot can help control blood pressure for up to six months. This could make it much easier for people to stick to their treatment plans.
In tests done in the UK, people who got zilebesiran saw their systolic blood pressure—the top number in a reading—drop by a lot. Those who received at least 200 milligrams of the drug had their blood pressure go down by more than 10 mmHg.
People who got the highest dose, 800 milligrams, saw a drop of over 20 mmHg. These changes can help bring dangerous blood pressure levels down to safer levels, which lowers the chance of heart-related problems.
So how does this new drug work? Zilebesiran targets a hormone in the body called angiotensin. This hormone makes blood vessels tighten up, which raises blood pressure.
Zilebesiran blocks a protein called angiotensinogen, which is needed to make angiotensin. The drug uses advanced gene-silencing technology to stop the body from making this protein. This helps keep blood pressure lower over time.
The study included 107 people with high blood pressure. Eighty of them received the injection, and the rest got a placebo—a fake treatment with no medicine in it. The people who got zilebesiran had much better results than those who got the placebo.
Professor David Webb, one of the lead researchers from the University of Edinburgh, said the findings are exciting. “This is a potentially big step forward for treating high blood pressure,” he said. “We haven’t had a new type of drug for this condition in 17 years. A treatment like this could make it much easier for people to stay on track.”
Still, researchers say more studies are needed to make sure the drug is safe and works well in the long term. If it passes these tests, zilebesiran could change the way people manage high blood pressure. By replacing daily pills with one injection every few months, it could help more people stay healthy and avoid serious problems.
In the meantime, people with high blood pressure can still benefit from small lifestyle changes like eating better, exercising, and reducing stress. These steps, along with new treatments like zilebesiran, offer hope for a better future in managing this common condition.
The study results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
If you care about high blood pressure, please read studies that early time-restricted eating could help improve blood pressure, and natural coconut sugar could help reduce blood pressure and artery stiffness.
For more health information, please see recent studies about added sugar in your diet linked to higher blood pressure, and results showing vitamin D could improve blood pressure in people with diabetes.
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