The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7473 p394
13 October 2007

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SMC accepts respiratory therapies

New treatments for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have been approved for use in NHS Scotland.

In the latest set of appraisals by the Scottish Medicines Consortium, omalizumab (Xolair) has been accepted as an add-on asthma control therapy in patients aged 12 years and over with severe persistent allergic asthma.

Formoterol (Atimos Modulite) inhaler has been accepted for the relief of broncho-obstructive symptoms in patients with COPD.

In addition, the SMC approved budesonide rectal foam (Budenofalk) for active ulcerative colitis in the rectum and sigmoid colon, and estrapenem (Invanz) for the prevention of surgical site infection following colorectal surgery in adults.

Sitagliptin (Januvia) has been approved for the treatment, in combination with metformin, of type 2 diabetes when diet, exercise and metformin do not provide adequate glycaemic control.

Three treatments were rejected by the SMC. Ziconotide (Prialt) and escitalopram (Cipralex) were rejected (for severe, chronic pain in patients who require intrathecal analgesia and for treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder, respectively), because the SMC judged that the manufacturers did not present sufficiently robust economic analyses. Betaine anhydrous oral powder (Cystdene) was rejected as an adjunctive treatment of homocystinuria because the manufacturer did not provide sufficient clinical data.