SMC recommends first targeted treatment for MZL

This week the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has approved a new treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma (MZL). This includes MALT lymphoma, nodal marginal zone lymphoma and splenic marginal zone lymphoma. Zanubrutinib, also known as Brukinsa, has been accepted to treat people who have already received at least one anti-CD20 based therapy.

Zanubrutinib is the first targeted treatment to be recommended for people with MZL in Scotland. Targeted treatments are medicines that are developed to attack specific proteins on lymphoma cells which they need to grow or survive. Zanbrutinib is a BTK-inhibitor. It targets and blocks a protein called Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK).

Zanubrutinib was approved because a study showed that 68% of people with relapsed or refractory MZL responded to the treatment.

Earlier in the year the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approved zanubrutinib for patients with MZL in England and Wales. This decision means that people in Scotland with MZL now have access to the same treatment options.

Find out more about drug development, approval and funding, or visit Lymphoma TrialsLink for the latest on clinical trials for lymphoma.