A record-breaking month has seen the Scottish Medicines Consortium accept 11 new treatments for use in the health service.
SMC advises on newly-licensed medicines for launch in NHS Scotland and recently published guidance on a total of 12 treatments.
Included was the much-talked-about weight loss drug, semaglutide (Wegovy), which was recommended for adults when used in conjunction with diet and exercise.
Several cancer treatments were also accepted:
- Brexucabtagene autoleucel (Tecartus) for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
- Olaparib (Lynparza) for some breast cancer patients
- Regorafanib (Stivarga) for advanced colorectal cancer
- Zanubrutinib (Brukinsa) for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia
- Darolutamide (Nubeqa) advanced prostate cancer
The committee also accepted atogepant (Aquipta) for adults who have more than four migraines a month. “This is one of a number of new migraine therapies that SMC has recently approved for use in the NHS in Scotland,” said SMC chair, Dr Scott Muir.
Belzutifan (Welireg) was approved for the treatment of adults with von Hippel-Lindau disease, which is a rare genetic disorder that leaders to tumours growing in various parts of the body. Belzutifan is the first licensed medicine for the treatment of the disease.
The rare type of epilepsy known as Dravet syndrome also had a treatment accepted – fenfluramine (Fintepla) was recommended as a supplement to other anti-epileptic medicines.
SMC ruled that adults with lupus nephritis, a disease which causes the immune system to attack the kidneys, can now be treated with voclosporin (Lupkynis).
For adults who have had a transplant and are experiencing illness caused by cytomegalovirus, maribavir (Livtencity) was accepted. Cytomegalovirus leads to mild infection in healthy people but can be more serious if someone’s immune system is compromised following a transplant.
The prostate cancer treatment known as lutetium vipivotide tetraxetan (Pluvicto) was not accepted however, as the manufacturer’s clinical and cost effectiveness evidence was deemed insufficient by SMC, when compared to the current range of treatment options.
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