SMC accepts eight drugs for use in Scotland
Ranibizumab was approved for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration in NHS Scotland this week.
The Scottish
Medicines Consortium recommended use of ranibizumab solution
for intravitreal injection, marketed by Novartis as Lucentis, on the
basis of estimated annual costs of £2.4m initially, rising to £7.1m
after five years. It suggests that treatment should be stopped if visual
acuity persistently falls below 6/60.
Formoterol inhalation powder (Easyhaler Formoterol; Ranbaxy) for asthma
patients treated with inhaled corticosteroids was also accepted, as was
the use of the budesonide/ formoterol turbohaler (Symbicort; AstraZeneca)
as both preventer and reliever for asthma patients.
The Symbicort maintenance and reliever therapy (SMART) strategy was accepted
for use in adults for whom use of an inhaled corticosteroid and a long-acting
beta2-agonist is appropriate. AstraZeneca believes that use of the SMART
approach could lead to a net saving because of lower use of reliever
therapies and reductions in doses of preventer therapies.
The SMC also approved darunavir (Prezista; Tibotec) for HIV-1 infections;
esomeprazole (Nexium; AstraZeneca) for erosive reflux oesophagitis in
patients aged 12 to 17 years; posaconazole (Noxafil; Schering-Plough)
for invasive fungal infections in immunocompromised patients; darifenacin
(Emselex; Ardana) for symptomatic treatment of urge incontinence or increased
urinary frequency and urgency; and testosterone gel (Tostran; ProStrakan)
for replacement therapy with testosterone for male hypogonadism (when
testosterone deficiency has been confirmed by clinical symptoms and laboratory
analysis).
No drugs were rejected by the SMC in this round of appraisals.
|
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
Acrobat
Reader