London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Use of 10p statins in organ donation ‘could save thousands of lives’

Use of 10p statins in organ donation ‘could save thousands of lives’

Exclusive: NHS launching large trial of approach that could boost number of transplants and their success rate
Thousands of lives could be saved globally by giving patients a 10p statin before transplants, doctors have said, as the NHS launches the world’s largest clinical trial in organ donors.

The medical breakthrough is predicted to dramatically increase the supply of organs for transplant. Currently, demand for organs vastly exceeds the number available. Every year thousands of people die waiting for a transplant, including hundreds in Britain.

Many potential organs for donation, particularly the heart and lungs, are damaged. Removing the organ and reattaching it in the recipient can exacerbate the damage. As a result, thousands of organs offered can never be used. Three-quarters of hearts offered cannot be used because they are damaged or do not function well.

Now leading doctors, surgeons and researchers say giving all donors a statin before their organs are removed could reduce inflammation and minimise or even reverse that damage. The pioneering act could be of real clinical benefit to organ recipients, significantly boosting their chances of survival.

In a world first, organ donors in the UK involved in a groundbreaking trial are being prescribed a single dose of simvastatin hours before their organs are removed. The intervention costs just 10p and takes only 30 seconds but is set to revolutionise organ donation.

The world’s largest randomised controlled trial in organ donors begins this week and could lead to statins being used routinely to boost the number of transplants performed and their success rate. More than 7,000 patients in the UK alone are waiting for an organ transplant.

The pandemic is likely to increase the need. Severely ill patients may experience lasting lung damage, and other patients due to undergo transplants in the last 18 months have had their operations cancelled.

Prof John Dark, a leading organ donation expert and a lead investigator of the trial, said he was hopeful that giving statins to organ donors would become standard.

The cholesterol-lowering drugs are already one of the world’s most popular medications. “What we hope is that this study will affect practice throughout the world and result in every organ donor being given a statin … with potentially thousands of lives saved,” said Dark.

The Signet trial will recruit 2,600 organ donors after they are declared brainstem dead, under a method called donation after brainstem death (DBD). They will be enrolled at 80 hospitals across the UK over the next four years.

Dark, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Newcastle University and a former heart and lung surgeon who has performed more than 500 transplants, said his team would look to confirm the benefits that statins could have on organs including the heart, lungs, pancreas, liver and kidneys.

“We expect better-quality organs to come from donors who have been treated with simvastatin. A previous, smaller study in Finland has shown that this was clearly the case for the heart and hinted at improvements in quality for lungs and liver also.

“Interestingly, in lung donation the recipients who got organs from donors treated with simvastatin showed half the level of primary graft dysfunction, which measures organ damage,” Dark said. “What we hope to do in the future is to make statins part of the standard treatment for organ donors and then explore other drugs that may continue to improve the condition of donated organs.”

In the trial, half of the consented donors will receive a statin in addition to their standard donor care. The drug is given through a tube running into the stomach, already present in most donors. The drug will be administered as soon as the family have consented to organ donation and involvement of their relative in the research. Half of all the recipients will then receive an organ from a donor given the statin.

Lyndsey Fitzpatrick, who has been waiting five years for a heart transplant, welcomed the trial. “It’s wonderful to hear that there’s more research being done into improving the quality of donated organs and hopefully means more hearts will be available for transplant,” she said.

The 36-year-old, from Neston on the Wirral, was born with a heart defect and had her first operation at six weeks old. She had open heart surgery at three and has needed pacemakers since she was 10.

“I’m still waiting for that all-important phone call to say a match has been found for me and I can start the next chapter of my life,” she said. “I hope this study, and more like these in the future, will mean people like me won’t have as long a wait for a transplant as there will be more organs available to save more lives.”

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) will help deliver the research using specialist nurses in organ donation, who support families giving consent at the end of life. These nurses will have spent months undergoing training enabling them to take part in the trial.

“The importance of the specialist nurses in organ donation can’t be underestimated,” said Dr Dan Harvey, a co-lead investigator of the study. “They do an incredible job in supporting families at one of the hardest times in their lives during the process of organ donation. Family understanding and support are crucial in the success of the trial.”

The study is backed by a £1.3m grant from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). It is being run by NHSBT’s clinical trials unit in Cambridge and sponsored by Newcastle upon Tyne hospitals NHS foundation trust.

Prof Paul Dark, the NIHR national specialty lead for critical care, said the trial was vital. “Previous studies have shown statins can reduce inflammation and improve organ quality,” he said. “This new study is critical research which we hope will show major benefits to the recipient donor.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×