HORMONE:  The boss of Covid vaccine maker AstraZeneca warns users of slimming jabs they will lose weight but risk serious side effects…

By John Ely

Revolutionary weight loss jabs intended to turn the tide on the global war against obesity could waste away muscles of patients, a pharma boss has warned.

AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soirot issued the warning in an interview with the British paper Daily Mail’s online version this week. Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is best known for its Covid vaccines widely distributed during the pandemic in the past three years.

Injections, such as Wegovy and Saxenda, which mimic a hormone that tricks the body into being full, have been approved in Britain to help tackle the obesity crisis.  But, in the MailOnline interview, Soriot has warned that they could shrink patients’ muscles.

The paper reports that doctors have previously warned that this effect could leave users metabolically ‘fatter’, because they then have a higher fat-to-muscle percentage, and raise the risk of them piling the pounds back on once stopping to take the medication.

‘Today you lose weight but you lose fat and you lose muscle’, Soriot said, according to The Telegraph. Soriot told MailOnline weight loss jabs, such as market leader Wegovy, make patients lose muscle as well as fat and also bemoaned the environmental cost of the single use injections ‘Most people as soon as they stop taking the medicines, they regain fat, but not so much the muscle that they have lost unless, of course, they go to the gym.’

AstraZeneca is trailing behind rival pharma giants in its weight-loss offerings but hopes a pill, which the drugmaker hopes will trump jab offerings, according to the MailOnline. The market for weight-loss drugs is predicted to be worth billions in the coming years as nations grapple with the financial and societal cost of obesity.

Soriot told MailOnline that pharmaceutical companies needed to ‘improve the quality’ of weight loss to both ensure effects didn’t disappear when patients stop taking them and to reduce side effects like muscles loss. He also bemoaned the environmental cost of the single-use jabs.

Meanwhile, in another report, the British paper quoted Great British Bake Off’s Prue Leith as saying weight loss jabs like Ozempic ‘take the joy out of life’ as she calls for schools to teach children how to cook healthy meals. She said the injections should be used only by people who are desperate.

Soirot added: ‘If you think about a billion people using one plastic pen every week, that’s a lot of plastic. All these plastic pens will become an issue at some point,’ Soriot said.

The Anglo-Swedish company has fallen behind rivals like the Danish Novo Nordisk, which makes Wegovy, and US firm Eli Lilly, the creator of recently approved Mounjaro.

But it hopes an upcoming pill, cheaper than the jabs, will allow it to gain ground in the market.

AstraZeneca has struck a £1.6billion (R38 billion) deal with a Chinese biotech company Eccogene for an experimental pill they are developing.

Soriot said the broad aim will be to combine the fat-busting pill with other medications to help treat some of the consequences of obesity, like hypertension and heart disease.

While no price for the pill has been announced, weight-loss jabs can run up between £180 (R4 300) to £300 (R7 200) per dose privately, according to MailOnline. However, if prescribed on the NHS, people will only pay a basic prescription charge of £9.65 (R230) in England.

Novo Nordisk, the market leader, has its specific weight-loss jab Wegovy, as well as Ozempic, a diabetes drug that uses the same active ingredient and has controversially been prescribed ‘off-label’ for weight loss. – MailOnline

MAJOR DRIVE TO RAISE BREAST CANCER AWARENESS

Battle: Pinkdrive has been on the frontline in South Africa’s battle for the past 15 years against gender-related Cancer

By Thuli Zungu

A total 1,1 million new cancer cases were reported in Africa  with nearly 700 000 people dying  of the disease every year.

And South Africa contributed significantly to this number, with breast cancer alone affecting more than three percent  of the population.

This is according to Nelius du Preez, National Marketing and Event Coordinator for PinkDrive, a local NPO dedicated to raise cancer awareness as  communities observed World Cancer Day this month.

PinkDrive, which have spent a decade and a half fighting to turn these numbers around, is determined to continue their efforts in raising awareness and providing essential cancer screening services.

“The work that we do here at PinkDrive is critical, especially for people who would otherwise have no access. We have made it our life’s work to provide care and lifesaving screening exams and will continue to do so for as long as we have life in our limbs,” says du Preez.

For the past 15 years, PinkDrive has been on the frontline in South Africa’s battle against gender -related cancer, having performed almost half a million clinical breast exams, more than 24,000 mammograms and thousands of male breast examinations since its inception in 2009.

“Whenever we go into a community, especially when we go into rural communities, you can see what it means to the individuals there. Sometimes our work goes to people who live more than hundreds of kilometres away from help. Those are the people who really need us and that is where we try to be,” Du Preez says,

To help bring awareness to the prevalence of gender – related cancers and its effect on South African communities, PinkDrive’s swimmers supported by Vuma, South Africa’s largest fibre network operator, will be participating in the world’s largest open water swim: aQuelle Midmar Mile hosted for the 51st time. The aQuelle Midmar Mile is an endurance swimming race that sees thousands of entrants swim a challenging 1.6km at the Midmar Dam near Howick and Pietermaritzburg in  KwaZulu-Natal.

The support received during this event would serve as a constant reminder that in the battle against breast cancer, they were not alone as PinkDrive. There are individuals who are willing to go to any lengths to provide assistance.

Some people believe that there is already enough cancer awareness but myths still prevail and the only way to combat them is through education.

“We are committed to popping up anywhere people need us and educate them. There are still people out there who think men cannot  get breast cancer or that only one group of people can get it.

We are here to bust those myths and help people in need live as long as possible,”  Du Preez said.

As long as breast cancer existed, there would be a need for organisations like PinkDrive, and for those who are out of reach of live-saving exams, this is music to their ears.

PinkDrive will also be participating in a string of events throughout the year including the Booby Tuesday Corporate Challenge, a call for companies to donate and help fund mobile screening units.

Lianne Williams, Marketing Director at Vuma says, they love empowering individuals to achieve the extraordinary.

“There is nothing more extraordinary than triumphing over cancer. That is  why our enduring partnership with PinkDrive is so significant.”

PinkDrive’s focus on breast cancer awareness and community support highlighted the social issues and challenges that  communities faced. ‘’By partnering with PinkDrive, we can contribute to creating a positive impact on public health, especially in the context of cancer prevention and early detection for those who cannot afford it. Organisations like these fill us with hope in the power of South Africans to make a real difference.

“We believe in what PinkDrive stands for and will continue to support where we can – it can be through free tea and coffee that gets served to community members or through fundraising for the Midmar Mile.’’