Thanks for posting a question. I am one of the nurses and Lucie our moderator wondered if we could help.
Unfortunately I don’t think that we can be particularly helpful in this matter and I will explain why.
Immunotherapy is an umbrella term for a number of different drugs. If you are interested there is some quite good information about what it means on the website of the American Cancer Society here . Although it is American information much but not all will be relevant to the UK.
Before a drug becomes available it has to be given a license (marketing authorisation) and it is quite a stringent process to get this. The authorisation allows doctors to prescribe drugs for specific cancers in precise circumstances only. There are not really any immunotherapy drugs that are licensed to treat bowel cancer other than the monoclonal antibody cetuximab. This is freely available on the NHS to patients in combination with chemotherapy for bowel cancer that has spread. But it is not useful for everyone as it is only suitable for people with specific features on the cancer cells. The new immunotherapy drugs that you may have heard about in the media are not licensed for bowel cancer.
In theory a doctor can prescribe a medicine outside of its licensed indications this is called ‘off label prescribing’. But there is a relatively short list of available immunotherapy drugs. Also before they do off label prescribing the doctor needs to check that there are no alternatives and they must be satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate safety and efficacy. They should also be experienced at using the drug. There is not currently strong evidence to show that many of the newer immunotherapies are useful for bowel cancer. More research is needed. So this could be a stumbling block to any doctor prescribing them off label even if someone was prepared to pay privately.
Also the newer immunotherapy drugs are not without side effects some of which can be life threatening. So because of this there is likely to be a reluctance to prescribe off label. So I think that it will be a tall order to get treatment privately.
I am sorry as I realise that this reply will be disappointing. If you have any other questions you are welcome to get back to us. If you would like to telephone our free number is 0808 8004040. We are here from Monday to Friday between the hours of 9am to 5pm.
Thanks for posting a question. I am one of the nurses and Lucie our moderator wondered if we could help.
Unfortunately I don’t think that we can be particularly helpful in this matter and I will explain why.
Immunotherapy is an umbrella term for a number of different drugs. If you are interested there is some quite good information about what it means on the website of the American Cancer Society here . Although it is American information much but not all will be relevant to the UK.
Before a drug becomes available it has to be given a license (marketing authorisation) and it is quite a stringent process to get this. The authorisation allows doctors to prescribe drugs for specific cancers in precise circumstances only. There are not really any immunotherapy drugs that are licensed to treat bowel cancer other than the monoclonal antibody cetuximab. This is freely available on the NHS to patients in combination with chemotherapy for bowel cancer that has spread. But it is not useful for everyone as it is only suitable for people with specific features on the cancer cells. The new immunotherapy drugs that you may have heard about in the media are not licensed for bowel cancer.
In theory a doctor can prescribe a medicine outside of its licensed indications this is called ‘off label prescribing’. But there is a relatively short list of available immunotherapy drugs. Also before they do off label prescribing the doctor needs to check that there are no alternatives and they must be satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate safety and efficacy. They should also be experienced at using the drug. There is not currently strong evidence to show that many of the newer immunotherapies are useful for bowel cancer. More research is needed. So this could be a stumbling block to any doctor prescribing them off label even if someone was prepared to pay privately.
Also the newer immunotherapy drugs are not without side effects some of which can be life threatening. So because of this there is likely to be a reluctance to prescribe off label. So I think that it will be a tall order to get treatment privately.
I am sorry as I realise that this reply will be disappointing. If you have any other questions you are welcome to get back to us. If you would like to telephone our free number is 0808 8004040. We are here from Monday to Friday between the hours of 9am to 5pm.
