UK SMA NBS Alliance Supports Research Review that will Inform the UK NSC Assessment of SMA for the UK Newborn Screening Programme

The UK SMA Newborn Screening Alliance is working closely with the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) as it assesses whether SMA should be added to the UK newborn screening programme.

An evidence review process is applied to all decisions that the UK NSC makes regarding whether to introduce, change or stop any screening programme.

As part of this approach, and to ensure that decisions are based on a robust evidence base, the UK NSC can commission a range of evidence products from external review teams, which are conducted independently from the UK NSC.

For its review of SMA, the UK NSC has commissioned the University of Sheffield School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) to conduct a literature review of relevant research.

The Alliance has developed a summary of all key research and evidence in relation to newborn screening for SMA and has input to this review. For further detail, and if you would like to read any of the academic papers on this topic, please see this summary.

The Alliance has been pleased to play a proactive and constructive role in this research review as part of its wider focus on ensuring that review timescales can be as streamlined as possible. A rapid and robust decision can be made to add SMA to the national heel-prick test. We are encouraging the UK NSC to expedite its process, which we think can be done without compromising on rigour.