SMC issues guidance on six more drugs
The Scottish
Medicines Consortium this week accepted five drugs for use within NHS Scotland and rejected one.
Adalimumab (Humira) is recommended for the treatment of adults with active
and progressive psoriatic arthritis when response to previous disease-modifying
antirheumatic drugs has been inadequate. A topical treatment, calcipotriol/betamethasone
diproprionate ointment (Dovobet) for stable plaque psoriasis, has also
been approved. However, its use is restricted to a maximum of four weeks
by doctors experienced in treating inflammatory skin conditions.
A pivotal study that shows carmustine implants (Giladel) were associated
with an increase in median survival time of 2.3 months has resulted in
them being recommended by the SMC as an adjunct to surgery and radiation
for the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed high-grade malignant
glioma.
The SMC has also accepted zonisamide (Zonegran) for the treatment of
adult patients with partial seizures, with or without secondary generalised
seizures. It should be restricted to those patients who have not benefited
from older anticonvulsants, such as carbamazepine and sodium valproate,
or who do not tolerate them. Treatment should only be initiated by doctors
with appropriate experience in the management of epilepsy.
A further drug accepted for restricted use is iloprost trometamol nebuliser
solution (Ventavis) for patients with New York Heart Association Class
III primary pulmonary hypertension. It should only be used as second-line
treatment where bosentan is ineffective or not tolerated. In addition,
it is not recommended for patients who would otherwise not have received
prostacyclin treatment. Its use is restricted to specialists working
in the Scottish Pulmonary Vascular Unit.
Finally, the SMC has not recommended the use of erlotinib (Tarceva) for
locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer after failure
of at least one prior treatment. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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