BC to increase access to spinal muscular atrophy treatment

BC will expand access to a life-changing treatment for children living with spinal muscular atrophy.

Children suffering from spinal muscular atrophy, a rare, severe and degenerative neuromuscular disease, will soon have access to Spinraza (nusinersen), a new medication that will no longer be limited to Type 1 patients.

Coverage will be expanded to consider other SMA patients on a case-by-case basis through B.C.’s Expensive Drugs for Rare Diseases process.

Spinraza is shown to slow or reverse the effects of SMA.

The expanded coverage applies to SMA patients under the age of 12 who meet the genetic criteria specified by the CDR recommendations. These patients may be:

• Infant SMA patients without symptoms;
• SMA patients who developed symptoms after early infancy and never achieved the ability to walk independently.

Type 1 SMA patients in B.C. have been eligible for Spinraza coverage since November 2018, the first time the drug was funded.

B.C. will continue to provide Spinraza to eligible Type 1 patients and those who meet the new CDR recommended criteria.

SMA destroys motor neurons in the spinal cord, leading to paralysis and death in the most severely affected patients. Worldwide, it is the leading genetic cause of infant death.