MEDICINES for breast and kidney cancer are among five new medicines which were accepted for use by NHS Scotland yesterday.
The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) accepted ribociclib (Kisqali), in combination with fulvestrant, for use by post-menopausal women living with the most common form of advanced breast cancer.
The drug can increase the time before the condition progresses which allows patients valuable additional months in the context of limited overall survival time.
Lenvatinib (Kisplyx) was also accepted for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in those who have been previously treated with a type of cancer medicine called a “vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor”. The drug is used with another cancer medicine called everolimus.
The medicine for kidney cancer offers a further treatment option that can extend the period before the cancer returns, and may also extend overall survival.
Other medicines approved yesterday included pentosan polysulfate sodium, for the treatment of bladder pain syndrome, clostridium botulinum neurotoxin type A (Xeomin), for the treatment of chronic sialorrhoea, or excessive drooling, and imiquimod (Zyclara), for the treatment of actinic keratosis, which is a precancerous, abnormal skin growth.
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All medicines were accepted following consideration through the SMC’s Patient and Clinician Engagement (PACE) process.
SMC Chairman Dr Alan MacDonald said: “I’m pleased we were able to accept five new medicines for use by NHSScotland.”
He added that lenvatinib could extend patients’ “overall survival time” and that he hoped the acceptance of ribociclib, which will provide patients the opportunity to have additional time with family and friends, will be “welcomed” by them.
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