SMC decisions for November 2011

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has accepted the following for use within NHS Scotland:

• golimumab (Simponi) for restricted use in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in combination with methotrexate. It should be given only in accordance with British Society for Rheumatology guidance at a dose of 50mg once monthly.
• ranibizumab (Lucentis) for restricted use in the treatment of macular oedema secondary to central retinal vein occlusion. It is not accepted for the treatment of macular oedema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion.
• paliperidone palmitate (Xeplion) for the maintenance treatment of schizophrenia in adults stabilised on paliperidone or risperidone.

Rejected submissions

The SMC rejected cabazitaxel (Jevtana) for the treatment of hormone-refractory metastatic prostate cancer and naproxen + esomeprazole (Vimovo) for the symptomatic treatment of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis in patients at risk of NSAID-associated peptic ulcers, following full submissions.

Aprepitant (Emend) was rejected for the prevention of chemotherapy-associated nausea and vomiting, following a resubmission.