LUNG cancer patients in Scotland will be the first in the UK to access a drug which has been shown to double survival rates.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium has approved Opdivo (nivolumab) as a treatment for advanced lung cancer on the NHS, in the first major drug breakthrough for the disease for 20 years.

Cancer doctors have described the decision as a "major turning point" in the treatment of lung cancer in Scotland, where incidence rates are amongst the highest in the world.

In a trial involving 272 patients, including some at Glasgow's Beatson Centre, 42% of patients were still alive at one year compared to 24% of those treated with another drug, docetaxel.

Only 7% suffered severe side effects on nivolumab compared to 55% treated with the other drug.

Scotland now joins a number of other European countries including Germany, Greece and Sweden who offer the treatment.

Nivolumab works by harnessing the ability of the immune system to fight advanced lung cancer as well as advanced forms of skin and kidney cancer.

In 2014, around 5,300 people were diagnosed with all types of lung cancer in Scotland, with a majority of these patients diagnosed at an advanced stage.

Around 4,100 people died from the disease, which is almost equivalent to the amount of deaths from colorectal, breast, prostate and oesophageal cancers combined.

Only 10% of patients diagnosed with lung cancer in Scotland will survive five years or more.

Dr Marianne Nicolson, Consultant Medical Oncologist from the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, said: "This positive decision marks a major turning point for lung cancer care in Scotland.

"Until today, there have been few treatments for this type of lung cancer that have the potential to extend survival in patients. ”

“The SMC recommendation to make nivolumab available to Scottish NHS patients has opened the door to an immunotherapy that offers real hope to patients and their families.”

Paula Chadwick, Chief Executive of Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, said: “Nivolumab is one of the very first of a new generation of immunotherapy drugs which use the power of the patient’s own immune system to attack cancer cells.

"And Nivolumab is just the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot more of these great drugs coming – they are game changers, but they need to be made available to all our patients – not just in Scotland, but across the UK.

“We are calling for the Government to sit down with the pharmaceutical firms and work out a way to make these drugs available.

"At the moment, the price structure is wrong. We need to address that urgently. Our patients have not got time to wait.”

Johanna Mercier, General Manager of Bristol-Myers Squibb UK & Ireland said: ““While this decision is positive news for lung cancer patients in Scotland, it will further compound the disappointment of patients in the rest of the UK, who are still waiting for access to this medicine."

A new drug which has been shown to halve the frequency of seizures in patients with epilepsy was also approved.

Briviact brivaracetam) could benefit many of the 55,000 people who suffer from the condition in Scotland.