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Spectators watch a race on the River Thames at the Henley Royal Regatta in Henley-on-Thames, west of London, on June 30, 2023. 

Henry Nicholls | Afp | Getty Images

LONDON — Harmful E.coli bacteria has been discovered at “alarmingly high” levels in the U.K.’s River Thames just days before elite rowers are due to compete there for the international Henley Regatta, anti-pollution campaigners have warned.

From Tuesday onwards, around 4,000 rowers from across the globe are set to compete in 400 races to qualify for the iconic regatta, which has taken place along the waterway since 1839.

Water quality testing carried out by River Action campaign group ahead of the race, found E.coli bacteria up to 27 times the acceptable limit for bathing water, prompting health concerns following a rise in E.coli cases in the country.

E.coli is a diverse group of bacteria which, while usually harmless, can produce toxins that can cause severe illness.

River Action tested water in the Henley Mile — part of the regatta course outside the Oxfordshire town — 27 times between May 23 and June 25 and found an average of 1,213 E.coli colony forming units (CFUs) per 100ml of water. It warned the levels were “alarmingly high” in a Thursday statement.

Anything above 900 CFUs/100ml fails the Environment Agency’s inland bathing water quality standards and is deemed a threat to public health, the campaign group said.

More than half (47%) of readings were found to be above the acceptable limit. The highest recorded was 25,000 CFUs/100ml, more than 27 times higher.

River Action also found E.coli levels up to 10 times higher in March tests.

James Wallace, CEO of River Action, accused the government and Thames Water, which manages water supply in the area, of failing to appropriately manage water hygiene levels.

“This is a health emergency. The new government must get a grip of the water pollution crisis and ensure that water companies, including Thames Water, invest urgently in upgrading wastewater treatment plants and fix their leaky infrastructure before someone becomes seriously ill, or worse,” he said in a statement.

Thames Water did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment, though the BBC reported that it had dubbed the findings “alarmist” and said it was monitoring bacteria levels. CNBC also contacted the government’s environment agency but did not immediately receive a response.

Chair of the Henley Royal Regatta committee of management and former Olympic rower Sir Steve Redgrave, said the findings were a “stark reminder” of the impact of sewage pollution.

“Our waterways are vitally important to our competitors racing, but also to all those athletes training on a daily basis nationwide,” he said.

Regatta organizers have advised rowers to cover all cuts and blisters and avoid swallowing river water as thousands of spectators descend on Henley on Thames for the event, which runs until Sunday.

It comes as the U.K. has faced a rise in E.coli cases. Two people with underlying health conditions died following infection with the Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli strain (STEC). One of the deaths is “likely linked” to their STEC infection, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said.

That particular strain is thought to have been spread via lettuce leaves within pre-packaged sandwiches.

UKHSA said Thursday that 275 cases of the strain have been confirmed as of June 25, and urged people to watch out for symptoms which can include diarrhoea, stomach cramps, vomiting and fever.

Eli Lilly on Friday said it applied for U.S. approval of its weight loss drug Zepbound for the treatment of the most common sleep-related breathing disorder and expects regulators to make a decision as early as the end of the year.

If cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, the company plans to launch Zepbound for so-called obstructive sleep apnea “as quickly as we can” at the beginning of 2025, Patrik Jonsson, president of Eli Lilly diabetes and obesity, said in an interview.

Also on Friday, the company released additional data from two late-stage trials showing that Zepbound helped resolve obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA, in almost half of patients. Eli Lilly presented the new data from the trials at the American Diabetes Association’s 84th Scientific Sessions in Orlando, Florida, on Friday.

“We’re super excited. … I think it actually went beyond what most external experts were hoping for,” Jonsson said of the new data demonstrating that Zepbound can help resolve the disorder in some patients.

It adds to growing evidence that there could be further health benefits tied to a class of weight loss and diabetes treatments that have soared in popularity and slipped into shortages in the U.S. over the past year. The data also paves the way for Eli Lilly to gain broader insurance coverage for Zepbound, which, like other weight loss drugs, is not covered by many insurance plans.

The pharmaceutical giant in April released initial results from the two studies, which showed that Zepbound was more effective than a placebo at reducing the severity of OSA in patients with obesity after a year. 

OSA refers to interrupted breathing during sleep due to narrowed or blocked airways. An estimated 80 million patients in the U.S. experience the disease, Eli Lilly said in a press release. Around 20 million of those people have moderate-to-severe forms of the disease, but 85% of OSA cases go undiagnosed, according to Jonsson. 

OSA can lead to loud snoring and excessive daytime sleepiness, as well as contribute to serious complications, including stroke and heart failure. Patients with the condition have limited treatment options outside of wearing masks hooked up to cumbersome machines while sleeping that provide positive airway pressure, or PAP, to allow for normal breathing.

The first study examined the weekly injection in adults with moderate-to-severe OSA and obesity who were not on PAP therapy. The second trial tested Zepbound in adults with the same conditions, but those patients were on and planned on continuing PAP therapy. 

The new results showed that 43% of people in the first study and 51.5% of patients in the second trial who took the highest dose of Zepbound achieved “disease resolution,” according to a release. That compares with 14.9% and 13.6% of patients who took a placebo in the two trials, respectively. 

“This has huge impacts on patients’ lives,” Leonard Glass, senior vice president of medical affairs at Eli Lilly, diabetes and obesity, told CNBC. “Imagine not having to use a PAP machine, or not having to worry about waking up again in the middle of the night, or for your partners — not having to live with somebody with this condition.”

Researchers came to those conclusions by examining a so-called apnea-hypopnea index, or AHI, which records the number of times per hour a person’s breathing shows a restricted or completely blocked airway. The index is used to evaluate the severity of obstructive sleep apnea and the effectiveness of treatments for the condition. 

Disease resolution for OSA is defined as a patient having fewer than five AHI events per hour, according to Eli Lilly. It is also defined as a person having five to 14 AHI events per hour and scoring a certain number on a standard survey designed to measure excessive daytime sleepiness, the company said. 

Among other new data, the company said 62.3% of patients in the first trial who took Zepbound saw a greater than 50% reduction in AHI events, compared with 19.2% of those on placebo. Meanwhile, 74.3% of people in the second study who took Eli Lilly’s drug saw a more than 50% reduction in AHI, compared with 22.9% of participants who received a placebo.

Eli Lilly on Friday reiterated that Zepbound met the main goal of the trial, which was reducing AHI events. 

Zepbound led to an average of 27.4 fewer AHI events per hour at 52 weeks in people who were not on PAP machines. That compares to an average reduction of 4.8 events per hour for those who received a placebo in the first trial. 

The drug also led to an average of 30.4 fewer AHI events per hour at 52 weeks in patients who were on PAP machines, compared with an average reduction of six events per hour for people on the placebo in the second study.

Eli Lilly previously announced that the FDA granted Zepbound “fast track designation” for patients with moderate-to-severe OSA and obesity. The designation ensures that drugs intended to both treat a serious or life-threatening condition and fill an unmet medical need get reviewed more quickly.

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The injectable weight loss medication Wegovy at New City Halstead Pharmacy in Chicago on April 24, 2024.

Scott Olson | Getty Images

Good morning! More U.S. employers are covering a buzzy class of medications called GLP-1s for weight loss, a survey found. 

Roughly one-third of employer health plans in the U.S. said they are covering GLP-1 drugs like Novo Nordisk‘s Ozempic and Wegovy for both diabetes and weight loss, up from 26% last year. 

GLP-1 drugs for weight loss also grew as a portion of employers’ overall annual medical claims spending, making up nearly 9% in 2024 compared to roughly 7% the year prior. 

That’s according to the survey released Thursday by a nonprofit organization, the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, which includes more than 33,000 member companies or public institutions. The survey was conducted in May on almost 300 employer health plans in the U.S. 

The increase in coverage is a win for patients, who often struggle to shoulder the hefty $1,000 monthly price tags of these drugs without insurance and other rebates. It’s also good news for the manufacturers of these treatments, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, which are working to increase insurance coverage for the drugs and patient access overall. 

Notably, most employee health plans and other insurers don’t cover drugs for weight loss, including GLP-1s such as Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound. The federal Medicare program also doesn’t pay for weight loss treatments unless they are approved and prescribed for another health condition. 

GLP-1s for diabetes, such as Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro, are often covered by plans. 

Both weight loss and diabetes drugs have skyrocketed in popularity in the U.S. — while drawing increasing investor interest — for helping people achieve dramatic weight loss over time. They work by mimicking one or more hormones produced in the gut to suppress a person’s appetite and regulate their blood sugar. 

Some 57% of employer health plans said they only cover the medications for diabetes management, up from 49% in 2023, according to the survey. 

But a substantial share — around 19% — said they are considering whether to cover them for weight loss.

“This new survey data shows that in the last six months, GLP-1 coverage has increased for both weight loss and diabetes,” Julie Stich, the vice president of content at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, said in a release. 

Stich said new regulatory approvals and clinical trials, along with increasing demand for GLP-1 medications in the U.S., have contributed to broader coverage.

For example, Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy is now cleared in U.S. for slashing the risk of serious heart complications. 

Insurance industry experts previously told CNBC that the approval won’t automatically translate to widespread insurance coverage of the weight loss drug. At the very least, some plans will take notice of Wegovy’s new use and start assessing whether to cover the treatment when they next update their formularies, those experts said. 

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are also conducting a slate of studies on their GLP-1 drugs in different patients. That includes those with chronic kidney disease, sleep apnea and a certain fatty liver disease. 

But there’s no doubt that the medications can put on a strain on any health plan’s budget. 

Around 85% of employers that are covering GLP-1s are relying “heavily” on requirements that aim to control costs, according to the survey. 

That includes certain eligibility rules, such as requiring employees to have a certain BMI, or body mass index, to receive coverage. It also includes “step therapy,” which requires its members to try other lower-cost medications or means of losing weight before using a GLP-1.

Meanwhile, other insurance plans are pulling back coverage of the medications for weight loss. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the state’s largest insurance company, said it will begin eliminating coverage of different weight loss drugs next year.

There’s also a bigger issue at hand, even as insurance coverage improves among employers: Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have been struggling to make enough supply of their treatments to meet demand. That is another part of the GLP-1 story that we will continue to monitor. 

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

Latest in health-care technology

Around 25% of health-care VC dollars are going toward companies using AI, report says

Hands, tablet and doctor with body hologram, overlay and dna research for medical innovation on app. Medic man, nurse and mobile touchscreen for typing on anatomy study or 3d holographic ux in clinic

Jacob Wackerhausen | Istock | Getty Images

Health-care companies that are exploring new uses for artificial intelligence are winning big with venture capital investors. 

One in every four health-care investment dollars is going toward companies that are using AI, and deal activity in AI for health care has grown twice as fast as AI deals in the tech industry as a whole, according to a recent report from Silicon Valley Bank, which is now a division of First Citizens Bank. 

The report said VCs invested $7.2 billion in health-care AI last year, and the figure is on track to reach $11.1 billion this year. 

Administrative applications of AI in health care are drawing around 60% of the funding, the report said. Clerical tasks like paperwork are a major burden for the health-care sector, and they are contributing to physician burnout and staffing shortages.

More than 90% of doctors report feeling burnt out on a regular basis, and 64% of these doctors said overwhelming administrative workloads are a major reason for it, according to a February survey from Athenahealth. Physicians are spending an average of 15 hours per week outside their normal hours keeping up with administrative tasks, the survey said.

In other words, administrative work is a big problem for the health-care sector. VCs are particularly interested in it since it usually faces less regulatory oversight than clinical decision support tools or patient-facing solutions do, SVB’s report said. 

Even though health-care AI companies are expected to raise more funds this year than they did last year, SVB said accessing quality data and sufficient computing power to train models could be barriers to adoption. 

This is particularly true for AI-powered patient diagnostic tools, which make up 52% of total investment in clinical solutions, according to the report. As of now, there is a “significant gap” in access to the necessary computing power and data to train a model that can accurately diagnose a patient. 

“Companies that can access data, partner with clinicians and hospitals to leverage patient data, and partner with big tech companies are better suited to deploy AI at scale,” the report said. 

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.