To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to make the combination treatment of chemotherapy drugs gemcitabine and capecitabine available to all eligible NHS patients.
Answered on
1 February 2017
Although gemcitabine and capecitabine in combination are not licensed for the treatment or prevention of pancreatic cancer, there is no legal or regulatory barrier to healthcare professionals prescribing them ‘off-licence’ for this purpose on the National Health Service, subject to any local funding policies, if they believe that it is clinically appropriate to do so.
In the absence of guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, NHS commissioners should make decisions on the availability of treatments based on an assessment of the available evidence.