Pfizer’s Somavert will be funded by NHS Wales as a treatment for eligible, adult patients with acromegaly in the third-line setting.

Acromegaly is a rare, chronic and potentially life-threatening condition associated with a range of debilitating physical signs and symptoms, all of which have a significant negative impact on a patient’s quality of life and wellbeing.

The All Wales Medicines Strategy Group (AWMSG) has recommended Somavert (pegvisomant) as an option for routine use on the NHS in Wales for the treatment of adults with acromegaly who have had an inadequate response to surgery and/or radiation therapy, and in whom an appropriate medical treatment with somatostatin analogues was not effective enough or not tolerated.

According to Pfizer, the drug provides an important option in cases where current early treatments are not suitable.

This, it says, is particularly important given that patients with uncontrolled acromegaly have a two- to three-fold increased rate of mortality, and an average reduction in lifespan of 10 years compared with the general population.

This AWMSG’s decision comes just weeks after the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) recommended Somavert as an option for routine use on the NHS in Scotland.

Somavert is also currently available as a third-line treatment option through the NHS in England.