Question reference: S6W-13815
- Date lodged: 12 January 2023
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Current status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 January 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans there are to approve Palforzia, a treatment for children with peanut allergies, for use in Scotland, in light of it being available through NHS England.
Answer
In Scotland, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) appraises the clinical and cost-effectiveness of newly-licensed medicines. Making decisions about whether or not to recommend routine access to new medicines is a complex task and the SMC bases its decisions on the best available evidence provided to it. Following a full submission from the submitting company, Aimmune Therapeutics, on 10 October 2022, the SMC published “not recommended” advice for Health Boards on the routine use of Palforzia ® in NHS Scotland. The submission received did not present a sufficiently robust economic analysis to gain acceptance by the SMC.
By way of an update, Aimmune Therapeutics has indicated its intention to make a resubmission to the SMC.If they do, information on the specific timelines for the reassessment will be available via the search facility available on the home page of the SMC’s website here . There is a fast-track resubmission option, which reduces the normal assessment timeline.
In the meantime, Health Boards have procedures in place using the Peer Approved Clinical System “PACS Tier Two” process, for clinicians to request the use of licensed medicines on a ‘case-by-case’ basis for individual patients, when the treating clinician considers that there would be significant clinical benefit for a patient.