Posted by Michael Wonder on 09 Apr 2018
Five new medicines accepted by SMC for use by NHSScotland
9 April 2018 - The SMC, has today published advice accepting five new medicines for use by NHSScotland.
Teduglutide (Revestive) was accepted for the treatment of paediatric onset short bowel syndrome in children aged 1 – 17 years. Short bowel syndrome is an extremely rare condition in which nutrients and fluids are not properly absorbed by the gut. Through SMC’s Patient and Clinician Engagement (PACE) process for medicines used to treat very rare and end of life conditions, it was highlighted that patients with short bowel syndrome are usually given nutrients as an infusion directly into their veins (a process known as parenteral nutrition).
The committee accepted two medicines for the treatment of hepatitis C, a blood-borne virus that predominantly infects the cells of the liver, resulting in inflammation and significant damage. There are several strains of hepatitis C, called genotypes. Sofosbuvir-velpatasvir-voxilaprevir (Vosevi) was accepted for the treatment of hepatitis C in adults who have failed to respond to previous treatment with targeted anti-viral therapy. There is no other treatment option currently available for this patient group. This medicine was also accepted for use in adults with hepatitis C genotype 3 who have not been treated with targeted anti-viral therapy and are suitable for an eight week course of treatment. Another medicine, sofosbuvir-velpatasvir (Epclusa), was also accepted for the treatment of hepatitis C in patients with genotype 1 or 4 infection. SMC has previously published separate advice for sofosbuvir-velpatasvir, so this medicine is now available for the treatment of all hepatitis C genotypes.
