Roche's Gazyvaro and Bayer's Adempas approved by Scottish Medicines Consortium

The Scottish Medicines Consortium has decided to grant access to Gazyvaro (obinutuzumab), manufactured by Swiss drug major Roche (ROG: SIX) for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

NHS Scotland will now be in a position to prescribe Gazyvaro for the most common form of adult leukemia. Many CLL patients suffer from other medical conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, which makes them unsuitable to receive aggressive treatments. The combination of Gazyvaro with chlorambucil has been shown to reduce the risk of death by 59% and keep patients in remission for more than 15 months longer than those on chemotherapy alone.

Jayson Dallas, general manager, Roche UK, said: “We are very pleased that patients in Scotland will be able to benefit from access to Gazyvaro, which has shown, in trials, to provide a significant survival advantage over the standard therapy. What’s important is that government, health assessment bodies and the pharmaceutical industry across the UK work positively together to ensure that the value and benefits of innovative new medicines continue to be recognized so that access to these important cancer therapies is equitable and safeguarded for all, now and in the future.”