Two new cancer treatments are among the new medicines that have been approved for use on the NHS in Scotland.
The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) have announced it has approved Opdualag, which contains nivolumab and relatlimab, to treat advanced skin cancer in patients aged 12 and older.
Pembrolizumab, sold under the brand name Keytruda, used together with chemotherapy was accepted as a first-line treatment for adults with HER2-negative advanced gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction cancer.
However, it was not recommended for those with HER2-positive disease when used together with chemotherapy and trastuzumab.
READ MORE: Charities welcome acceptance of new medicines for use in Scotland
Voretigene neparvovec, sold as Luxturna, was accepted for the treatment of adults and children with a rare inherited eye condition called inherited retinal dystrophy.
The SMC chair said the organisation had heard about the “devastating and life-changing” impact of the increasing blindness caused by the condition.
Pegunigalsidase alfa, branded as Elfabrio, was accepted as a treatment for adults with Fabry disease, a rare inherited condition that can lead to kidney failure and heart problems.
Empagliflozin (brand name Jardiance) was accepted for the treatment of adults with chronic kidney disease, a long-term condition where the kidneys do not work as well as they should.
Follitropin delta, or Rekovelle, was accepted for ovarian stimulation in women having fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
Additionally, an initial assessment report on birch bark extract, branded as Filsuvez, has been completed on its treatment of epidermolysis bullosa.
The rare skin condition makes the skin very fragile and causes severe blistering and scarring.
The SMC said the Scottish Government will confirm when it is available for prescription and further evidence on the drug’s use will be gathered.
SMC chair, Dr Scott Muir, said: “The committee is pleased to be able to accept these new medicines for use by NHS Scotland.
“Through the SMC patient and clinician engagement process, the committee heard about the devastating and life-changing impact of progressive vision loss caused by inherited retinal dystrophy.
“From the additional evidence provided by the company, the committee was satisfied that voretigene neparvovec has the potential to improve the lives of patients and their families and has now been accepted for routine use by SMC.
“The committee was not able to accept pembrolizumab for advanced gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction cancer in patients with HER2-negative and HER2- positive disease as the evidence provided by the company for pembrolizumab when used to treat HER2-positive disease was not strong enough.
“We would welcome a resubmission addressing the uncertainties that we have raised”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here