Drug agencies have been ordered to make changes to how they approve new treatments for use on the NHS in Scotland in efforts to increase access for seriously ill and dying patients. The Scottish Government said it wanted the drug approval system to become more transparent, with greater access to end-of-life treatments and medicines for very rare conditions.Health secretary Alex Neil said he had told the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC), which recommends drugs for use by NHS Scotland, to apply different, more flexible approaches in its evaluation of these treatments.The call comes after a series of high-profile rejections of expensive drugs by the SMC, sparking anger from patients’ groups. For more details, go to: http://www.scotsman.com/news/health/decisions-on-drugs-must-improve-nhs-agencies-told-1-3131270