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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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The use of a novel hormonal therapy by men with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer has been approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC).
Apalutamide was considered for use to treat adults with prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.
Used alongside androgen deprivation therapy, apalutamide blocks the actions of testosterone and androgens, helping in slowing down the growth of the cancer.
Its use has life-extending benefits and offers an alternative treatment option to docetaxel chemotherapy, which carries significant side effects.
It is also an alternative to abiraterone, which was approved for use in January 2020.
The SMC said that in making its decision it also took into account a confidential discount offered by the manufacturers of the treatment which improves its cost-effectiveness.
Joseph Woollcott, policy and health influencing manager at Prostate Cancer UK, welcomed the move.
He said: “We are pleased by this decision, which will give men with advanced prostate cancer another life-extending treatment option.
“This is particularly important for men who can’t tolerate existing treatments and who would otherwise miss out on valuable additional time with their loved ones.”
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