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SCOTTISH HOSPITAL NEWS


SMC ACCEPTS FOUR NEW MEDICINES FOR USE BY NHSSCOTLAND


The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has published advice accepting four new medicines for use by NHSScotland.


Stiripentol (Diacomit) was accepted for the treatment of children with a very rare type of epilepsy known as Dravet’s syndrome. This type of epilepsy appears in young children during their first year of life and can cause prolonged and repeated seizures. Through SMC’s Patient and Clinician Engagement (PACE) process for medicines used for rare conditions, it was highlighted that children with Dravet’s syndrome may require intensive support for a range of issues including developmental delays in speech and language. There are currently no treatment options for this condition. Stiripentol, which was accepted for use in combination with two other medicines, clobazam and valproate, may significantly reduce the frequency of seizures, allowing children to attend school more regularly and interact with their peers.


Nivolumab (Opdivo) was also accepted through the PACE process for the treatment of squamous cell cancer of the head and neck (SCCHN), which includes cancers of the mouth and throat. PACE participants spoke of how patients have a limited life expectancy after treatment with a platinum-based cancer medicine and how they have to live with pain, breathing difficulties, an inability to speak


and swallow and disfigurement to the face and neck. Nivolumab can improve overall survival and help patients maintain quality of life during their remaining months.


Baricitinib (Olumiant) was accepted for the treatment of severe rheumatoid arthritis in adults who have not responded to or are intolerant of other current treatments. As an oral treatment, baricitinib offers an effective treatment to other medicines which are given by injection or infusion.


Also accepted was rolapitant (Varuby) for the prevention of delayed nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy in adults. This provides an alternative to similar preventative treatments.


The committee was unable to accept roflumilast (Daxas) for the treatment of severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as the company’s evidence on the clinical and economic benefits of using the medicine was not strong enough.


Etelcalcetide (Parsabiv), for the reduction of high levels of parathyroid hormone in adults with chronic kidney disease who are on haemodialysis therapy, was also not recommended. The committee was unable to accept etecalcetide because the long-term benefits of the medicine were unclear compared to another similar treatment.


£1.5 MILLION BOOST FOR CANCER CENTRE


Cancer experts have received a major funding boost to help develop new medicines.


The £1.5 million investment will help fund pioneering research at the Edinburgh Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) for the next five years.


The renewed funding comes from


Cancer Research UK and the Chief Scientist Office.


The investment will allow doctors and scientists in Edinburgh to develop better cancer treatments. It will also enable them to test new ways of detecting and monitoring the disease.


‘We are thrilled that Edinburgh has


SCIENTISTS DISCOVER POTENTIAL NEW IMPROVED WAY TO KILL CANCER CELLS


Scientists at the University of Glasgow have discovered a process to trigger the death of cancer cells that could be more effective than current methods.


The new method of killing cancer cells - called Caspase Independent Cell Death (CICD), and published recently in Nature Cell Biology, led to the complete eradication of tumours in experimental models.


Currently most anti-cancer therapies (chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy) work by killing cancer cells through a process called apoptosis, which activates proteins called caspases, leading to cell death.


But in apoptosis, therapies often fail to kill all cancer cells, leading to disease recurrence, and can also have unwanted side effects that may even promote cancer.


The scientists wanted to develop a way to improve therapy that induces cancer cell killing while also mitigating unwanted toxicity.


‘Our research found that triggering Caspase-Independent Cell Death (CICD), but not apoptosis, often led to complete tumour regression,’ said


secured this funding,’ said Professor David Cameron, Co-Lead, Edinburgh Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre. ‘This award represents a critical investment in our research infrastructure, equipping us with the key laboratory and clinical tools needed to advance the understanding and treatment of cancer for the benefit of people in Scotland and beyond.’


The Edinburgh ECMC is one of 20 centres around the UK focused on creating new cancer therapies


Dr Stephen Tait, Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, Institute of Cancer Sciences. ‘Especially under conditions of partial therapeutic response, as our experiments mimic, our data suggests that triggering tumour-specific CICD, rather than apoptosis, may be a more effective way to treat cancer.’


Unlike apoptosis, which is a silent form of cell death, when cancer cells die through CICD, they alert the immune system through the release of inflammatory proteins.


The immune system can then attack the remaining tumour cells that evaded initial therapy-induced death.


The researchers used lab-grown colorectal cancer cells to show the advantage of killing cancer cells via CICD, however, these benefits may be applicable to a wide-range of cancer types.


‘In essence,’ added Dr Tait, ‘this mechanism has the potential to dramatically improve the effectiveness of anti–cancer therapy and reduce unwanted toxicity. Taking into consideration our findings, we propose that engaging CICD as a means of anti-cancer therapy warrants further investigation.’


and vaccines and testing them in a clinical setting.


In the past ten years, ECMCs around the UK have delivered 1,500 early phase clinical trials of new therapies, spanning 35 different types of cancer. This has enabled 18,000 patients to access innovative new treatments.


The centres have raised more than £150 million towards clinical trials and pre-clinical research in experimental cancer medicine.


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