A new form of cancer treatment for certain patients have been approved for routine use on the NHS in Scotland.
The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has accepted Trifluridine/tipiracil, known by its trade name Lonsurf, used with bevacizumab, for treating adults with advanced colon or rectal cancer.
Patients who can receive the drug must have already had two lines of treatment.
The SMC also accepted etranacogene dezaparvovec, known by the brand Hemgenix, for treating adults with haemophilia B, a bleeding disorder.
The medicine was approved on an interim basis while further evidence on its effectiveness is gathered.
READ MORE: Cancer charity chief urges people to check benefits eligibility
The SMC will review the evidence at a later date and decide on its availability with NHS Scotland.
SMC chair, Dr Scott Muir, said: “We are pleased to be able to accept these medicines for use by NHS Scotland.
“Etranacogene dezaparvovec is an innovative gene therapy medicine which offers a one-off treatment for patients.
“The clinical evidence is promising but the long-term effectiveness is still uncertain. The committee look forward to reviewing the updated evidence when available to ensure that this treatment offers good value to patients in NHS Scotland.
“Trifluridine/tipiracil, used together with bevacizumab, offers another treatment option for patients with advanced bowel cancer who have already received two lines of treatment.”
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