Thousand of Scottish people suffering from diabetes will be denied a new type of diabetes treatment that will be available in England, following a rejection of the drug by the Scottish drugs watchdog.
The Scottish Medicines Consortium decided not to approve the drug Exubera, a move that will raise an outcry amongst some patients. A senior doctor in Glasgow knocked the decisio, saying that patients could potentially miss out on a drug treatments that might be able to help them come to terms with their conditions.
Dr Miles Fisher, a consultant in diabetes at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, spoke out on the matter: “Some people have a total phobia of injections and their diabetes may be very poorly managed as a result. With this treatment, patients with Type 1 diabetes would need one injection a day rather than four.”
The SMC were not convinced by the details of studies submitted by drug manufacturer Pfizer. Patients in Scotland were apparently more likely to use a ‘pen’ injector.
Exubera could possibly damage the lungs of a small segment of the diabetic population, yet this fact is unlikely to alter the outcry from Scottish diabetics. For diabetics looking to cut their insulin injections from four to one per day, and for those with a phobia of needles, the news will be most unwelcome.
