SMC accepts five treatments for use by the NHS in Scotland
Five treatments assessed by the Scottish Medicines Consortium this month have been accepted for use in the NHS in Scotland, including trastuzumab (Herceptin) for use in HER-2 positive early breast cancer.
Somatropin (Norditropin SimpleXx) injection and posaconazole (Noxafil)
were both accepted — somatropin for the treatment of growth disturbance
in children who fail to show catch-up growth by four years of age and
posaconazole for the treatment of adults with specific invasive fungal
infections refractory to, or intolerant of, the antifungal agents normally
used to treat those infections.
Interferon alfa-2b (Viraferon and Intron A), in combination with ribavirin
(Rebetol), was accepted for the treatment of adolescents and children
over three years of age who have previously untreated chronic hepatitis
C, without liver decompensation, and who are positive for serum hepatitis
C virus RNA.
The SMC also accepted erlotinib (Tarceva) for the treatment of patients
with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer who would
otherwise be eligible for treatment with docetaxel monotherapy and in
whom at least one other chemotherapy regimen has failed.
Four medicines were rejected on economic grounds. They are bevacizumab
(Avastin) for first-line treatment of metastatic carcinoma of the colon
or rectum, pegvisomant (Somavert) for acromegaly, omalizumab (Xolair)
as an add-on to improve asthma
control and esomeprazole (Nexium) for the prevention and healing of gastric
ulcers
associated with non-steroidal anti-
inflammatory therapy. |
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