Millions of people around the world take medication on a daily basis to control their blood pressure. Now, after the success of the phase-two trial, an injection may eliminate the need.
In the United Kingdom, Queen Mary University and Barts Health Company have developed an injection for people with chronic high blood pressure that could eliminate the need to take medication every day. A single dose of injection will be sufficient for up to six months, no less than any revolution. It is expected to be generally available in 2025 if all goes well.
It's called xylbiserin, and echoes of another cholesterol-lowering vaccine have been heard before. We know that chronic high blood pressure patients must take one pill per day, with ACE inhibitors being common.
Xylbesiran is being tested on 630 patients worldwide, of which 100 patients are being studied in the UK. This research will continue for another three years. This will look at the importance of the injection and any possible side effects. If all goes well, the vaccine will then be approved.
Blood pressure is the cause of many diseases, among which stroke, kidney diseases, and heart diseases are the main ones. A third of adults in the UK alone suffer from this condition. In Pakistan too, a large part of the population is suffering from high blood pressure.
Dr. Manish Saxena, the head of this study, expressed his happiness while announcing the injection. He hoped that this would help a lot in treating high blood pressure and save millions of lives. He said that Xylbesiran is a type of RNA interference drug.
A protein called therapeutically targeting angiotensinogen (AGT) in our liver does this and normalizes blood pressure. Xylbeserin is a subcutaneous injection that increases the production of AGT and also normalizes blood flow by dilating blood vessels.