July 2025 decisions news release
The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC), which advises on newly licensed medicines for use by NHSScotland, has today (Monday, July 07) published advice on eight medicines.
Selpercatinib (Retsevmo®) was accepted for the treatment of patients, 12 years and older, with thyroid cancer that is advanced and caused by mutations in a gene called RET.
Pembrolizumab (Keytruda®) was accepted, used together with chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of adults with advanced endometrial cancer which is newly diagnosed or has come back after treatment.
Abaloparatide (Eladynos®) was accepted for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal patients at increased risk of fracture.
Osimertinib (Tagrisso®) was accepted, used together with chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of adults with non-small cell lung cancer that is advanced, where the cancer cells have mutations in exon 19 or exon 21 of the EGFR gene.
Amivantamab (Rybrevant®) used together with chemotherapy was not recommended for the treatment of adults with non-small cell lung cancer that is advanced, where the cancer cells have certain mutations in exon 20 of the EGFR gene.
Fezolinetant (Veoza®) was not recommended for the treatment of moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms due to the menopause. Vasomotor symptoms include hot flushes and night sweats.
Lecanemab (Leqembi®) was not recommended to treat the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease in adults who carry one or no copies of a gene called ApoE4.
Bevacizumab gamma (Lytenava®) was accepted for the treatment of adults with the wet form of age-related macular degeneration.
SMC Chair Dr Scott Muir said: “The committee is pleased to be able to accept these new medicines for use by NHSScotland.
“Selpercatinib offers an oral targeted treatment that can be taken at home for this small group of patients with advanced thyroid cancer that is driven by a RET mutation.
“Pembrolizumab used together with chemotherapy offers some patients with advanced endometrial cancer the chance of an immunotherapy treatment option at first-line who would otherwise not have it.
“Osimertinib used together with chemotherapy offers the potential to delay the progression of disease in patients with certain types of advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
“However, the committee was unable to accept amivantamab for the treatment of certain types of advanced non-small cell lung cancer as the company’s evidence around the cost effectiveness of the treatment, compared to currently available options, was not sufficient.
“SMC welcomed the resubmission for lecanemab and recognises the need for new therapies for Alzheimer’s disease. However, having considered all the evidence, the committee was still unable to accept lecanemab for use in the NHS in Scotland. They felt that there remains uncertainty around what the modest clinical benefit means for patients and their families, and, in addition, the cost-effective estimates supplied by the company were too high.
“The committee was also unable to accept fezolinetant for treating vasomotor symptoms due to the menopause as the company’s evidence around the cost-effectiveness of the treatment was not sufficient.
“For the medicines we were unable to accept we would welcome a resubmission from the companies addressing the issues we have raised.”