Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what NHS England's policy is on the approval of Individual Funding Requests for an unlicensed indication where there is a licensed NICE-recommended alternative.

NHS England has advised that it would expect patients to be offered a licensed drug recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in the first instance.

However, if that drug is clinically unsuitable for an individual patient, then a clinician can apply for funding for an off label or unlicensed drug through the standard Individual Funding Request process. In such cases the clinician would need to explain why the licensed drug is not suitable for the patient, demonstrate that the patient is clinically exceptional and provide evidence that the patient will benefit from the requested drug.