The first patients have been treated in a pilot that puts a cholesterol-lowering injection into community pharmacies in East London.

What has happened

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) reported on 22 October 2026 that the first patients have received inclisiran at pharmacies in the pilot. Barts Health NHS Trust and UCLPartners run it, led by Professor Riyaz Patel, a consultant cardiologist at Barts Heart Centre.

The first three pharmacies are Anjis Dispensing Chemist in Waltham Forest and two Rohpharm Pharmacy branches, in Ilford and Plaistow. The BHF says more pharmacies will join “soon”.

Inclisiran is given as an injection twice a year. In clinical trials it lowers LDL (“bad”) cholesterol by around 50 per cent, according to the BHF. NICE has approved it for people with heart disease who meet certain criteria, and it has normally been given in hospital.

How the pilot works

  • Who: patients with heart disease who need more cholesterol-lowering treatment than tablets give them. They are referred to a local pharmacy from hospital lipid clinics.
  • How many: at least 180 other people over 14 months, according to the BHF.
  • Why: the lipid clinic at St Bartholomew’s Hospital serves a population of 2.5 million and its waiting list is growing. One of the first patients, a 70-year-old from Chadwell Heath, told the BHF that the pharmacy visit took about 10 minutes and the whole appointment about 20 minutes, compared with a full day at hospital.
  • Funding: a £198,000 BHF grant, according to Barts Health and UCLPartners when the pilot was announced on 27 November 2025.

The announcement set out three things the pilot would test: giving injections to patients who currently attend hospital, starting treatment for people waiting for a hospital appointment, and finding new at-risk patients through pharmacy cholesterol testing. Barts Health and UCLPartners have already run “seven minute” lipid tests in community pharmacies, and the aim is a single test-and-treat pathway. The pilot will be evaluated for safety, effectiveness and effect on health outcomes.

Why it matters

Patients in the pilot are being treated close to home instead of at hospital. The lipid clinic at St Bartholomew’s Hospital serves a population of 2.5 million and its waiting list is growing, according to the BHF. Barts Health and UCLPartners point out that community pharmacies are accessible to 99 per cent of people in deprived areas.

If the pilot succeeds, its clinicians hope it will lead to similar programmes in other NHS trusts across the country, according to the BHF.