The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has accepted valganciclovir (Valcyte®) for use within NHS Scotland for the prevention of cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease in CMV negative patients who have received a solid organ transplant from a CMV positive donor.  Treatment should be initiated by physicians who are experienced in the care of post-transplant patients.

The Drug Advice (see link below) notes that the marketing authorisation of valganciclovir (Valcyte®) has been amended to allow the duration of prophylaxis following kidney transplantation to be increased from 100 days to 200 days.  This extended duration was shown to reduce the incidence or CMV at 12 months in the specified population in a randomised controlled trial.