The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has accepted for restricted use within NHS Scotland docetaxel (Taxotere®) for the induction treatment of patients with resectable locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck in combination with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil. The committee noted that in the pivotal study, the docetaxel-containing induction regimen was associated with improved overall survival compared with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil alone. The SMC had previously issued advice for patients with unresectable disease and this now extends the advice to patients with resectable disease.
Source: http://www.nelm.nhs.uk
nelm@gstt.nhs.uk