The Scottish Medicines Consortium has approved seven new medicines for use on NHS Scotland, including the first biologic treatment for ulcerative colitis, which affects around 12,400 people across the country.

The SMC has waved through Takeda’s Entyvio for (vedolizumab) as the first gut-selective treatment for adults with moderately- to severely-active forms of the condition.

The watchdog concluded that Entyvio is not only cost effective but also represents a therapeutic advance because of its unique mode of action, which suppresses immune activity only in gut, as opposed to across the whole body, and thus is widely regarded a step change in the management of the condition.

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