New drug available on the NHS in England

For children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy

 

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Children in England suffering from a rare form of muscular dystrophy will soon be able to access the only drug licensed for their condition after a ground-breaking agreement was reached between NHS England and PTC Therapeutics.

 

Under the five-year commercial agreement, which includes an outcomes-based incentive for the manufacturer as well as a mechanism to monitor how well the medicine has worked in practice before future funding decisions are made, Translarna (ataluren) can be used to treat children aged five and over with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) caused by a nonsense mutation.

 

The move follows a recommendation by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence earlier this year that the drug, which costs £222,000 per year (before discount) should be available on the NHS if NHS England and PTC could successfully negotiate an economically acceptable managed access agreement.

 

The Institute noted that, in one clinical trial, none of the children in the most sensitive group taking the drug lost the ability to walk over the 48 weeks of the trial compared with 8 percent on the placebo, and that research predicts that it could delay loss of walking for up to seven years.

 

Translarna won conditional approval from the European Commission in August 2014 to treat nmDMD, and is currently available to patients in 23 countries through either expanded access programs or commercial sales.

 

Read the full article… 

 

SOURCE: PharmaTimes online, July 8 2016

 

NHS England, PTC reach agreement on Duchenne drug

 

Selina McKee

1 comment

  1. IS THERE ANY SIMILAR RESEARCH FOR HEREDITARY SPASTIC PARAPLEGIA TO TRY TO FORESTALL
    THE PARALYSIS OF THIS DISEASE. I REALISE THIS IS A COMPLICATED GENE DISEASE BUT I
    HAVE TWO MEMBERS OF MY FAMILY WHO NEED REAL HELP. KEITH

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