Roche’s Avastin receives Scottish approval for cervical cancer

Roche has announced that its cancer therapy Avastin has been approved in a new indication by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC).

Avastin has been recommended for restricted use on the NHS in combination with cisplatin and paclitaxel in adult patients with persistent, recurrent or metastatic carcinoma of the cervix.

This submission was made under the Patient and Clinician Engagement (PACE) process, making Scotland the first and only region in the UK to have routine access to this treatment via the NHS.

The approval was based on data from the GOG-0240 study, which showed that Avastin plus chemotherapy can increase survival to a total of 16.8 months following a diagnosis of recurrent, persistent or metastatic cervical cancer. This is an almost four-month increase compared to chemotherapy alone.

Moreover, women who received Avastin plus chemotherapy had a significantly higher response rate.

Richard Erwin, general manager of Roche in the UK, said: "This is good news for women in Scotland and demonstrates how pricing medicines based on how well they work in different indications can benefit patients."