{"id":632702,"date":"2026-06-11T08:10:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T08:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/632702\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T08:10:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T08:10:26","slug":"wegovy-approved-for-nhs-scotland-in-double-treatment-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/632702\/","title":{"rendered":"Wegovy approved for NHS Scotland in double treatment boost"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The decisions follow consideration by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC)<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n Among the new treatments is talquetamab, a bispecific antibody now available for certain adults with advanced myeloma, a form of blood cancer affecting the bone marrow.\n<\/p>\n

\n Gabrielle King<\/a>, senior policy officer at Myeloma UK<\/a>, said: “This is fantastic news and we know it will make a huge difference to people with myeloma in Scotland.\n<\/p>\n

\n “Talquetamab<\/a> targets myeloma in a completely different way to currently available treatments.\n<\/p>\n

\n “It is also more flexible, which means less time spent in hospital for patients and their families, and a better quality of life.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Myeloma UK estimates that around 50 patients who have exhausted other treatment options could benefit from the drug.\n<\/p>\n

\n Talquetamab works by helping the immune system identify and kill cancer cells through its ability to bind both to myeloma cells and T cells, a form of white blood cell.\n<\/p>\n

\n By bringing these cells into close contact, the drug enables the immune system to target and destroy the cancer.\n<\/p>\n

\n More than 35,000 people in the UK are living with myeloma<\/a>, including 2,400 in Scotland.\n<\/p>\n

\n Currently, just over half of patients survive five years or more.\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Rob Peel<\/a>, chairman of the SMC, said: “Talquetamab may be a useful additional treatment option for some patients with advanced myeloma who have already received at least three previous treatments.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Gordon Marron<\/a>, consultant haematologist at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee<\/a>, described the drug as a major advance.\n<\/p>\n

\n He said: “It represents a major advance in the treatment of relapsed myeloma for patients who previously would have had very few good options.\n<\/p>\n

\n “Compared to existing treatments, it is highly effective and can offer durable disease control in those patients who respond.”\n<\/p>\n

\n The SMC also approved the use of semaglutide, better known as Wegovy, on the NHS.\n<\/p>\n

\n It will be used alongside diet and exercise to help reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events\u2014such as heart attack or stroke\u2014in overweight adults who already have cardiovascular disease.\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Peel said: “Semaglutide will provide a useful treatment option to help reduce major cardiovascular events in patients who are overweight and have cardiovascular disease.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Nina Pinwill of Johnson and Johnson<\/a>, which manufactures talquetamab, also welcomed the decision.\n<\/p>\n

\n She said: “We are pleased to have brought this innovation with a distinct target to the multiple myeloma community and hope it translates into improved lives.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The decisions follow consideration by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC). Among the new treatments is talquetamab, a bispecific…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-632702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}