Chamber and committees

The fuel cost element of the annual subsidy will be the actual cost of the fuel used.

On the basis of IPTR monitoring information received from NHS Boards for the period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde received 14 IPTRs for cetuximab during this timeframe of which eight were approved.

For the rest of Scotland, five IPTRs were received within the same timeframe of which two were approved. Further breakdown of these figures to geographical area is not appropriate due to patient confidentiality issues.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Since it was set up in 2001 by the previous administration, the purpose of the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has been to appraise newly licensed medicines and to issue advice to all NHS boards in Scotland about their use, based on assessments of comparative clinical and cost-effectiveness of treatments. As the SMC operates its processes independently from the Scottish Government there are no discussions with them about drugs they are considering.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-15399 on 13 June 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

This information is not held centrally.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) published advice in July 2006 to confirm its acceptance of cetuximab for restricted use in combination with radiation therapy for the treatment of patients with locally advanced squamous cell cancer of the head and neck. The company stated in their submission that the target population they wish considered were those patients for whom chemoradiotherapy is not appropriate. The SMC advice restricted the use of cetuximab for this indication for patients who are not appropriate for or are unable to tolerate chemo-radiotherapy and who are of good performance status with no evidence of distant metastases. The use of cetuximab was also restricted to specialists in the management of head and neck cancer. The SMC advice can be viewed via the SMC website:

http://www.scottishmedicines.org.uk/SMC_Advice/Advice/cetuximab_2mg_ml_intravenous_infusion__Erbitux____________/cetuximab_2mg_ml_intravenous_infusion__Erbitux____________

The SMC advice on cetuximab published on 8 February 2010 confirmed its acceptance of cetuximab for restricted use within the NHS in Scotland for the first-line treatment of patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-expressing KRAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer in combination with chemotherapy where they have not previously been treated with chemotherapy for their metastatic disease, with liver metastases only that are considered non-resectable but in whom potentially curative liver metastases resection would be undertaken if the lesions became resectable after treatment with chemotherapy and cetuximab. Within its licensed indication for the treatment of patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-expressing KRAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer in combination with chemotherapy.

The submitting company requested that the SMC appraise a niche within the licensed indication for cetuximab specifically for patients who had not previously received chemotherapy for their metastatic disease and provided efficacy and safety data to reflect this niche. The manufacturer niched the economic analysis to patients whose metastatic disease is confined to the liver and is currently unresectable but which may become amenable to potentially curative liver resection after responding to chemotherapy plus cetuximab.

http://www.scottishmedicines.org.uk/SMC_Advice/Advice/543_09_cetuximab__Erbitux_/cetuximab__Erbitux_1

On 25 January 2012 NICE published Multiple Technology Appraisal (MTA) advice which confirmed that cetuximab monotherapy or combination chemotherapy is not recommended for the treatment of people with metastatic colorectal cancer that has progressed beyond first-line chemotherapy. Healthcare Improvement Scotland published advice on the same day to confirm that the NICE advice was valid for Scotland. A link to the national advice for cetuximab in this indication is attached: http://www.scottishmedicines.org.uk/SMC_Advice/Advice/Cetuximab_100mg_in_50ml_solution_for_infusion__Erbitux__174__/Cetuximab__Erbitux__

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-15399 on 13 June 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.