Current status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to making the drug, ivabradine, available on the NHS as a treatment for postural tachycardia syndrome.
The regulation for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines is currently reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Ivabradine is currently licensed in the UK for the symptomatic treatment of chronic stable angina pectoris, and the treatment of chronic heart failure.
The use of ivabradine for the treatment of postural tachycardia syndrome is an off-label indication (where the product licence does not cover the indication for which the medicine is being prescribed). Clinicians can prescribe medicines off-label, in line with local Health Board protocols where they consider there would be significant clinical benefit for an individual.
Decisions on whether to prescribe a medicine are based on an individual’s needs and are a matter for the clinical judgement of the prescribing clinician in consultation with the individual (and where appropriate their parent/s or guardian/s), informed by advice and guidance about the medicine.