Patients with thyroid cancer, Crohn’s disease and pneumonia will now be offered new treatments after new medicines were made available in Scotland yesterday.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC), which reviews newly licensed medicines, has revealed that treatments for thyroid cancer, Crohn’s disease and a new antibiotic for pneumonia are among five medicines accepted for use by NHS Scotland.

Two of these medicines, Bayer’s sorafenib (Nexavar) for thyroid cancer and riociguat (Adempas) for pulmonary arterial hypertension were accepted after consideration under the 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.

Professor Jonathan Fox, chairman of the SMC, said: “The SMC is pleased to accept five medicines for a variety of conditions that will benefit patients. 

“Two of these medicines were considered through our Pace process, and patient groups and clinicians gave powerful testimony on the benefits of sorafenib for thyroid cancer and riociguat for pulmonary arterial hypertension.”

For more details, go to: http://www.thenational.scot/news/five-new-drugs-given-approval-for-use-by-scottish-nhs.5153