Chronic DME treatment approved for NHS Scotland patients

Atlanta-The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC), after completing its assessment and review of a simple patient access scheme, has accepted Alimera Sciences’ fluocinolone acetonide intravitreal implant (Iluvien) for restricted use within the National Health Service (NHS) Scotland.

The advice issued by the SMC provides NHS Scotland patients considered insufficiently responsive to available therapies with access to the product-the only sustained-release treatment for chronic diabetic macular edema (DME), the company said in a prepared statement.

The advice is restricted to those who have a pseudophakic eye. In addition, re-treatment with the product is predicated on a positive response to, and subsequent need for the product.

“The favorable assessment and acceptance of (the treatment) by the SMC is a major step forward for NHS Scotland patients suffering from chronic DME,” said Dan Myers, president and chief executive officer of Alimera. “Patients of NHS Scotland, who are insufficiently responsive to other treatment options, now have access to a product that can provide a therapeutic benefit to them for up to 36 months.”

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