October 2023 decisions news release
The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC), which advises on newly-licensed medicines for use by NHSScotland, has today (Monday, October 9) published advice on 12 medicines.
Semaglutide (Wegovy®) was accepted for weight management in adults and is used alongside diet and exercise to help people lose weight.
Atogepant (Aquipta®) was accepted for preventing migraine in adults who have more than four migraine days per month.
Belzutifan (Welireg®) was accepted for treating adults with von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease, a rare genetic disorder that causes tumours to grow in various parts of the body.
Fenfluramine (Fintepla®) was accepted for use as an add-on to other anti-epileptic medicines to treat a serious, rare type of epilepsy called Dravet syndrome.
Maribavir (Livtencity®) was accepted for treating illness caused by cytomegalovirus (CMV) in adults who have had a transplant. CMV causes mild infection in healthy people but can cause serious illness in people whose immune system is weakened following a transplant.
Voclosporin (Lupkynis®) was accepted for treating adult patients with lupus nephritis. In lupus nephritis the immune system attacks the kidneys causing inflammation and damage.
Several medicines were accepted for use in treating people with cancer. Brexucabtagene autoleucel (Tecartus®) for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), olaparib (Lynparza®) for the treatment of certain patients with breast cancer, regorafanib (Stivarga®) for advanced colorectal cancer and zanubrutinib (Brukinsa®) for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). Darolutamide (Nubeqa®) was accepted for treating advanced prostate cancer.
The committee was unable to accept lutetium (177Lu) vipivotide tetraxetan (Pluvicto) for the treatment of prostate cancer. The company’s evidence around the clinical and cost effectiveness of the treatment compared to currently available options was not sufficient.
SMC Chair Dr Scott Muir said: “The committee is pleased to be able to accept these new medicines for a variety of conditions, including breast, bowel and prostate cancer. This has been a record breaking month for SMC in terms of the numbers of medicines that we have been able to accept for use in the NHS in Scotland.
“Obesity is a serious public health issue in Scotland. Used alongside a weight management programme including diet and exercise, semaglutide could assist carefully selected patients in their weight loss journey.
“Atogepant may help improve symptoms and quality of life for those affected by regular migraines. This is one of a number of new migraine therapies that SMC has recently approved for use in the NHS in Scotland.
“Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease is a rare but hugely impactful inherited condition. We know that patients and carers will welcome our decision to accept belzutifan which is the first medicine licensed for the treatment of VHL disease. Belzutifan is a new therapy which has come through the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP).”