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Scotland’s medicines advisory body has approved a medicated pain relief plaster for restricted use within the country, for patients suffering pain following shingles.
The move to allow the use of versatis (5% lidocaine medicated plaster) reverses a decision made by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) last year, and is based on significant new data on the clinical aspects and the cost-effectiveness of the treatment.
Versatis offers sustained pain relief associated with post-herpetic neuralgia – the pain that persists for more than three months after the onset of the shingles rash. It combines lidocaine, a local analgesic, with a soft hydrogel plaster.
Application of the plaster to the skin releases an appropriate level of lidocaine into the skin to impair the transfer of signals, which would be associated with the perception of pain.
Heather Wallace, Chairman of Pain Concern commented: “The SMC is to be congratulated on its revised decision for Versatis. They’ve taken a huge step forward in extending options for pain relief for people living with neuropathic pain.”
The trial data is being presented for the first time at the International Association for the Study of Pain Congress in Glasgow this week.
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