The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has approved Bristol-Myers Squibb‘s (BMS) Daklinza (daclatasvir) for use within NHS Scotland to treat adult patients with chronic hepatitis C.
Daclatasvir received approval for use in combination with other medicinal products for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection in adults.
To treat patients with hepatitis C genotypes 1, 3 and 4, daclatasvir can be used with other agents, including sofosbuvir.
The approval allows patients in Scotland with chronic hepatitis C access to an oral treatment regimen, which does not include interferon.
Bristol-Myers Squibb UK and Ireland general manager Johanna Mercier said: "This decision represents another significant landmark in the fight against hepatitis C and reinforces Scotland’s commitment to treating those impacted by this serious disease.
"Daclatasvir was the first NS5A inhibitor to be approved in Europe and forms the core of the Bristol-Myers Squibb hepatitis C portfolio. It is therefore encouraging that the value this medicine can bring is being recognised and that Scottish patients will now be able to potentially benefit from it."
BMS also received approval from the SMC for its Yervoy (ipilimumab) to treat adult patients in Scotland with previously-untreated (first-line) advanced (unresectable or metastatic) melanoma.
Ipilimumab is a fully human monoclonal antibody, which works by stimulating the body’s own immune system to fight cancer.
It received European approval to treat advanced (unresectable or metastatic) melanoma in adults, in July 2011.
Image: Entrance to the Bristol-Myers Squibb site at Reeds Lane, Moreton, Wirral, England. Photo: courtesy of Rept0n1x.
