8 September 2015 - The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has today published advice accepting seven new medicines for use in NHS Scotland.

Two of these medicines, bevacizumab (Avastin) for ovarian cancer and pasireotide (Signifor) for acromegaly (a condition where the body produces too much growth hormone) were considered under SMC’s PACE (Patient and Clinician Engagement) process, which aims to improve patient access to new medicines for the treatment of end of life and very rare conditions.

SMC was unable to recommend another medicine considered through the PACE process, elosulfase alfa (Vimizim) for the treatment of Morquio A syndrome, an inherited metabolic disease. Avanafil (Spedra) for erectile dysfunction was also not recommended.

Bevacizumab is used in combination with chemotherapy to treat ovarian cancer. During the PACE meeting, patient groups and clinicians highlighted that a diagnosis of ovarian cancer has a significant impact on the lives of women and their families and current treatment options are limited. Bevacizumab was also considered under SMC’s decision making process for medicines to treat very rare (ultra orphan) conditions. The Committee was also able to apply the SMC’s modifying criterion relating to quality of life, as it may be substantially improved by bevacizumab.

For more details, go to: http://www.scottishmedicines.org.uk/About_SMC/Latest_news/News_Articles/September_2015_decisions_news_release