Scottish Government
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New medicines
More than 70 patients with rare conditions are already benefiting from the Scottish Government’s new medicines fund.
The £21 million fund, which was created in January 2013, is for medicines not available for routine prescription that treat very rare illnesses.
The latest figures show that 71 patients in Scotland have received, or are about to receive, ivacaftor – a new medicine used to treat a rare form of cystic fibrosis. This figure includes 24 children between 6 and 16 years of age.
The fund is an interim recommendation of the independent review into new medicines, which was published on Friday.
Health Secretary Alex Neil said:
“This fund is for very specialist, and often expensive, medicines for rare conditions which affect fewer than 100 people in Scotland.
“The independent review into new medicines arrangements in Scotland singled out these medicines as an area where we needed to improve access.
“That is why I am pleased to be able to confirm that 71 people have already benefited from our rare conditions medicines fund, with more to come.
“This fund is transforming the lives of those with rare conditions and, especially for younger sufferers, making a huge difference to their families’ life too. We expect more patients to benefit from a wider range of medicines in the coming months.”
An independent review of the current systems for making new medicines available across NHS Scotland was published on Friday.
The review recommendations together with those from the Health and Sport Committee will be open for consultation over the summer.
The fund was announced in January 2013 following interim advice from Professor Swainson that such a fund would be justified. Professor Routledge also recommended that the Scottish Medicines Consortium establishes a policy specifically related to these medicines.
The fund is in place to cover a time period until further recommendations from the review can be put in place. The Scottish Government will continue our commitment in this area until the end of 2014/15.
