Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) Gives Green Light To Effective Blood Cancer Drug Treatment Combination

Main Category: Lymphoma / Leukemia / Myeloma
Also Included In: Blood / Hematology;  Cancer / Oncology;  Regulatory Affairs / Drug Approvals
Article Date: 08 Sep 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) today announced a positive opinion for the anti-cancer drug rituximab to be combined with any chemotherapy combination as first-line treatment for follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL),1 the 6th most common cancer in the UK.2 This new guidance recognises the significant progression-free and overall survival benefit rituximab offers patients when added to a number of chemotherapy regimens.

Dr David Meiklejohn, Consultant Haematologist and Clinical Leader at the Ninewells Hospital, Dundee commented "This SMC guidance is great news for this group of patients as it confirms the impressive survival benefit MabThera offers when added to a variety of chemotherapy regimens. This new guidance will allow physicians in Scotland to be more flexible in deciding which chemotherapy in addition to MabThera will most benefit their patients."

About NHL

Approximately 10,300 people are diagnosed each year with NHL in the UK and over 4,400 NHL patients die each year. Follicular lymphoma is a common type of NHL, accounting for approximately 1 in 4 of all cases.

About the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC)

The remit of the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) is to provide advice to NHS Boards and their Area Drug and Therapeutics Committees (ADTCs) across Scotland about the status of all newly licensed medicines, all new formulations of existing medicines and new indications for established products (licenced from January 2002). This advice will be made available as soon as practical after the launch of the product involved.

The remit of SMC excludes the assessment of vaccines, branded generics, non-prescription-only medicines (POMs), blood products, plasma substitutes and diagnostic drugs. The review of device-containing medicines will be confined to those licensed as medicines by the MHRA/EMEA.

Scottish Medicines Consortium