P f N E WS : B R IN G IN G YOU TH I S M O NTH ' S E SS ENTI A L H E A D LIN E S
A P P R OVA L S
Pure BLISS The European Commission has approved a new subcutaneous (SC) formulation of GSK’s Benlysta (belimumab). It will be used as an add-on therapy in adult patients with active autoantibody-positive systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and a high degree of disease activity. The approval is for a single-dose prefilled syringe and pen, administered as a once-weekly injection of 200mg. These SC presentations enable suitable patients to self-administer their medicine at home, after initial supervision from their clinical team. The subcutaneous version of the medicine adds to the existing intravenous formulation, which was licensed for use in Europe in 2011 and has since been used to treat thousands of patients worldwide. SLE is a chronic, incurable, autoimmune disease associated with a range of symptoms that can fluctuate over time, affecting almost any system in the body. The approval is based on results from the BLISS-SC phase III pivotal study of more than 800 patients, published earlier this year in Arthritis & Rheumatology. The study measured reduction in disease activity at week 52 in patients taking Benlysta, versus those receiving placebo.
T EC H N O LO GY.
SAT EXAM
The University of Aberdeen’s Centre for Rural Health, NHS Highland and the Scottish Ambulance Service are working on a pilot programme with global broadband services and technology company, ViaSat. The initiative, called SatCare, will enable paramedics to send high-resolution video and ultrasound images from connected
ambulances to hospital-based medical experts, ahead of a patient’s hospital arrival. The one-year SatCare trial, partly-funded by the European Space Agency, aims to help approximately 1000 patients living in remote and rural Scotland. The goal is to provide better patient care on long ambulance journeys, as well as provide more streamlined care upon getting to hospital, such as immediate transfer to an operating theatre. The connected ambulances will utilise ViaSat’s advanced satellite communications system and five Scottish ambulances have been equipped with state-of-the-art scanning equipment. The technology has been successfully tested using healthy volunteers. Professor Philip Wilson, Director of the Centre for Rural Health, said: “This research will tell us how effective and, equally important, how cost-effective this technology can be.”
M AG A ZI N E | D ECEM B ER 2017 | 5