Posted by Michael Wonder on 13 Mar 2018
Analysis: new drug decisions and NHS spending conundrums
12 March 2018 - The latest round of drug decisions from the Scottish Medicines Consortium throws up the usual mix of new hope for some and disappointment for others as a potential treatment is knocked back.
While hundreds of women with terminal breast cancer will welcome the approval of a drug that promises to extend their survival by more than two years, patients with advanced bladder cancer are among those for whom a potential new drug treatment was rejected on cost-effectiveness grounds.
Atezolizumab (Tecentriq) would have been suitable for around 57 patients a year - but with an annual additional cost to the NHS drugs budget of £397,000.
