A new drug which can help women with advanced cervical cancer live longer has been approved for use by the NHS.
Scotland has become the first part of the UK to approve Avastin – also known as bevacizumab – for routine use, following a decision by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC).
The drug, in combination with chemotherapy, can delay the progression of the disease and prolong life by approximately four months.
A total of 309 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in Scotland in 2013, with 88 losing their life to it in 2014.
Professor Nick Reed, consultant clinical oncologist at the Beatson Oncology Centre in Glasgow, said: “Cervical cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in younger women.
“The prognosis for advanced disease or recurrent disease is poor and the symptoms are often uncomfortable and distressing for patients who have to stay in hospital for prolonged periods of time.
“This is a much awaited decision in Scotland – there have been no new medicines licensed for over 10 years and the only available treatment has been chemotherapy. Avastin is added to chemotherapy and delays the progression of complications and prolongs life by approximately four months.
“For any mother, daughter or wife, this is an important amount of time as it allows them to continue to work, be more independent and plan for their family’s future.”
The SMC also approved a new treatment for patients with severe hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), a painful long-term skin condition which can leave sufferers covered with boils and abscesses.
Up to 500 people are diagnosed with HS every year in Scotland, with an estimated 50,000 affected.
There had previously been no approved treatment, but the SMC has now approved the drug Humira, also known as adalimumab, which can reduce abscesses by at least 50% and reduce the pain sufferers experience by a third.
Sufferer Jen Napier, 33, from Alloa, said she was “thrilled” by the decision, which comes just days after the treatment was approved south of the border.
She has had HS since she was a teenager, but was only diagnosed last year with the condition which she described as being “almost mediaeval with plagues of boils”.
Ms Napier, who works as an administrator, is in constant pain as a result of the condition, and said: “I’ve had numerous treatments, none of which had any impact.
“What Humira gives us is some hope that there is something that might make a difference, that will help us.”
Dr Susannah Fraser, consultant dermatologist at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, said: “HS can be an extremely painful and unpleasant condition, and we are very limited when it comes to treatment options.
“It is really good news that suitable patients in Scotland will be able to receive treatment with adalimumab which has been shown to reduce both the number of skin problems and pain.”
SMC chairman Professor Jonathan Fox said: “Until now very few licensed treatments have been available for cervical cancer and hidradenitis suppurativa, so it is pleasing that the committee was able to accept bevacizumab and adalimumab for routine use for these conditions.”
But the SMC rejected the drug Kalydeco – also known as ivacaftor – for the routine treatment of cystic fibrosis.
Prof Fox said patient groups and clinicians had given “powerful testimony” about the impact the treatment, and also lumacaftor-ivacaftor, could have.
But he said: “While these medicines may have the potential to improve quality of life in the short term, in both submissions the case presented by the company was not robust enough to convince the committee about their longer term benefits when balanced against their extremely high costs.”
While the SMC has systems designed to increase access to medicines for those with very rare conditions and those at the end of their life, Prof Fox said: “Our responsibility is to consider whether individual medicines offer value for money to the NHS in Scotland, and take account of all patients, not only those affected by the condition for which the medicine under consideration may be used.”
