The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7390 p264
4 March 2006

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· Methadone mixture
· Brand prescribing
· Oxygen services
· BuTrans and the SMC
· The profession (4)
· The Society
· Reciprocity
· CPD

Letters to the Editor

BuTrans and the SMC

BuTrans does not lack efficacy

From Dr J. P. Schofield, MRCP

I refer to your news article (PJ, 18 February, p193) in which you incorrectly state that the weekly transdermal buprenorphine patch BuTrans was found to be lacking in efficacy compared with other pain therapies.

An important omission was that the Scottish Medicines Consortium press release stated that there was a lack of comparative efficacy with a clinically relevant treatment for chronic pain available in the UK. Napp does have positive comparative efficacy against analgesic products that are widely available throughout the rest of the world, as well as the components of certain combination analgesics that are extensively used within the UK. We are having a constructive dialogue with the SMC with the intention of submitting a case which would gain the acceptance of BuTrans for the treatment of appropriate Scottish patients.

We do not wish your readership and, importantly, patients to be left with the impression that BuTrans is lacking in efficacy.

J. Paul Schofield
Medical Director and Consultant in Pharmaceutical Medicine
Napp Pharmaceuticals Ltd

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