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COVER STORY


SMC BACK ON THE MEDICINES ROLLERCOASTER OF SCRUTINY’


By John Macgill


THIRTY MONTHS AFTER BEING TOLD BY THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT TO CHANGE THE WAY IT ASSESSES NEW DRUGS FOR USE IN NHS SCOTLAND, THE SCOTTISH MEDICINES CONSORTIUM IS AGAIN UNDER SCRUTINY. AND SO TOO IS THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY FOR THE PRICES IT SETS.


I


n the run-up to the Scottish election, every Scottish Parliament committee considers its achievements and what it has left undone. Each writes a so-called “legacy paper” that it hopes will form the foundation of the work of its successor committee formeda following the election.


Since 2011, the Scottish Parliament’s Health and Sport Committee


14 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST


has held inquiries on subjects as diverse as health inequalities and community sport. In most cases, the report it published at the end of the inquiry represented the end of the Committee’s discussions. Not so with its review of Access to New Medicines.


Faced with petitions and a bulging postbag from desperate patients who believed they were being denied the advanced medicines they needed,


the Committee spent much of 2013 examining how medicines, especially for patients with rare and life-limiting conditions, are accepted – and rejected – for use in NHSScotland.


Their findings were accepted by the Scottish Government. Ministers instructing the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) to alter some of its practices, including adding an extra consultation meeting to


involve patients and clinicians when considering high cost medicines for end of life and rare conditions.


During the first few months of this year the Committee took evidence on the effects of these changes.


In parallel, the Scottish Government announced that Dr Brian Montgomery, a former Medical Director of NHS Fife, will lead an independent review of


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