SMC agrees funding for new medicines on NHS Scotland

The Scottish Medicines Consortium has approve NHS funding for the following four products:
Sanofi’s Dupixent (dupilumab) is for the treatment of adult moderate to severe atopic dermatitis where the current systemic immuno suppressants have yielded an inadequate response, or where the patient is deemed unsuitable for that treatment. It is administered by injection every other week and evidence shows it can improve symptom control and therefore quality of life. CEO of National Eczema Society, Andrew Proctor, said Dupixent “offers people with a more severe form of atopic eczema a much needed new treatment option in a disease area where therapies have been limited.”
Roche/Chugai’s RoActemra (tocilizumab) is an anti-IL-6 receptor licensed to treat the potentially life- threatening condition Giant Cell Arteritis in adult patients, a form of vasculitis that causes inflammation of blood vessels. Long-term high-dose steroids are used to manage the condition but can inevitably create its own problems further down the line like weight gain, diabetes, skin issues and osteoporosis. RoActemra is also licensed to treat moderate to severe active rheumatoid arthritis in adults, systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis in children two years of age and older, and polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
Gilead’s Biktarvy (bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide) combination therapy is endorsed for the treatment of HIV, and ViiV Heathcare’s Juluca (dolutegravir/rilpivirine) is endorsed as the first dual therapy treatment for HIV. The SMC said: “As a smaller, easier to swallow tablet, dolutegravir/rilpivirine offers a further maintenance treatment which may benefit some patients.”
MSD’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) for first-line treatment of urothelial cancer was rejected “due to uncertainties in the company’s evidence about both the long-term benefits of the medicine and its cost effectiveness,” and Roche’s Gazyvaro (obinutuzumab) for follicular lymphoma was rejected “as there was too much uncertainty in the company’s evidence around the cost benefits compared to the treatment option already available in NHS Scotland.”