'It really is a game-changer.. we now have a class of drugs that could transform many chronic diseases of ageing'

A "GAME-CHANGING" weight-loss jab hailed as a "new statin" could revolutionise health care after it was found to also prevent heart attacks and strokes.

- Martin Bagot

• Biggest-ever slimming jab trial shows it lowers risk of heart attack and stroke

The biggest-ever trial of a slimming drug showed it cut the risks by a fifth for people with cardiovascular disease.

Previous studies had focused on weight loss in obese patients.

Britain's leading cardiologist said: "This fantastic trial really is a game-changer."

Professor John Deanfield, of University College London, who conducted the trial analysis, said that everyone with cardiovascular disease and a BMI of at least 27 could be offered the jabs on the NHS.

Professor Deanfield continued: "It's the sort of thing we got with statins in the 90s when we finally figured out that there was a class of drugs that would change the biology of this disease.

"That was a major breakthrough to transform cardiology practice.

"We now have a class of drugs that could equally transform many chronic diseases of ageing. It's a major breakthrough."

Patients given the drug Wegovy displayed benefits to their heart even if they did not shed any weight. Researchers believe that the vascular wall may be strengthened by the drug. Millions of Britons stand potentially to benefit from the discovery.

The study, being presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Venice, included more than 17,500 people aged over 45 from 41 countries. The drug which slows digestion by mimicking the GLP-1 hormone that regulates hunger - can cause unpleasant side-effects such as vomiting and constipation.

In the latest trial patients were allowed to pause taking the drug or to reduce the dosage if it made them unwell.