Children being treated for growth disturbance could be treated with injections weekly instead of daily, according to new guidance.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has backed the use of the weekly treatment somatrogon.
The new treatment would be for children and young people aged three years and over who have growth disturbance caused by growth hormone deficiency.
The current treatment is a daily injection of somatropin, a synthetic growth hormone, but clinical trials have demonstrated that somatrogon is as effective. NICE said about 2,200 children could benefit.
It is the first NICE-recommended medicine to complete all steps of its new proportionate approach to technology appraisals project.
The evaluation was completed seven weeks – 25% – faster than the usual cost comparison process of 29 weeks. This was achieved by removing some sections of the process and streamlining others without compromising the rigour of the work. NICE expects future appraisals to be more than 35% faster.
Helen Knight, NICE director of medicines evaluation, said: “The recommendation of somatrogon is a welcome development for the care of children with a growth disturbance caused by growth hormone deficiency.
“It is also a milestone for us as an organisation as we’ve been able to evaluate this drug 25% faster and we expect to improve this even further in future topics under this new proportionate way of working.
“We want to get the best care to patients fast, while ensuring value for money for the taxpayer, and at the same time creating useful and useable advice for the NHS.”
The final draft guidance has been for appeal. If there are no appeals to NICE’s decision, final guidance is expected to be published in February 2023.
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