{"entity":{"id":"colorectal-uk-drug-access","kind":"term","name":"Colorectal cancer drugs in England: what NICE has recommended","aka":["NICE colorectal cancer guidance","Bowel cancer drug funding England"],"tldr":"Which bowel cancer drugs the NHS in England funds, and which it does not. Every reference number below was checked on the NICE website in September 2026.","summary":"Recommended for routine commissioning: cetuximab and panitumumab with FOLFOX or FOLFIRI for previously untreated RAS wild-type metastatic disease (TA439, March 2017, updated September 2017); pembrolizumab for untreated MSI-high or mismatch-repair deficient metastatic disease, stopped at two years (TA709, June 2021); nivolumab with ipilimumab for the same untreated population (TA1065, May 2025) and, after previous treatment, TA716 (July 2021); pembrolizumab after fluoropyrimidine combination therapy only where nivolumab with ipilimumab is unsuitable (TA914, September 2023); encorafenib with cetuximab for previously treated BRAF V600E disease (TA668, January 2021); trifluridine-tipiracil (TA405, August 2016) and trifluridine-tipiracil with bevacizumab after two systemic treatments (TA1008, September 2024); regorafenib after previous treatment (TA866, February 2023); fruquintinib at third line or later, only when trifluridine-tipiracil with bevacizumab is unsuitable (TA1079, July 2025); bevacizumab, originator and biosimilars, with fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy first and second line only when targeted treatment or immunotherapy is unsuitable (TA1136, February 2026); and, tumour-agnostically for NTRK fusion-positive disease, larotrectinib through the Cancer Drugs Fund under its managed access agreement (TA630, May 2020), where there is no satisfactory alternative. Entrectinib is no longer an option: TA644 (August 2020) has been withdrawn and replaced by TA1118, which NICE terminated on 7 January 2026 because the company did not make a complete evidence submission, and NG151 removed the entrectinib link in the same month. Not recommended: aflibercept with irinotecan and fluorouracil-based therapy (TA307, March 2014), and, after first-line chemotherapy, cetuximab and panitumumab (TA242, January 2012). The older appraisals TA212 (bevacizumab with oxaliplatin, December 2010) and TA118 (bevacizumab and cetuximab, January 2007) no longer carry a recommendation of their own: TA1136 updates and replaces TA212 and partially updates TA242 and TA118. Cetuximab, bevacizumab and panitumumab after first-line chemotherapy were appraised together in TA242 (January 2012). The clinical guideline for the whole pathway is NG151 (January 2020, last updated December 2021). There is no NICE recommendation for tucatinib with trastuzumab, for trastuzumab deruxtecan in colorectal cancer, for sotorasib with panitumumab, for adagrasib with cetuximab, or for first-line encorafenib with cetuximab and chemotherapy, so those regimens are not routinely funded in England even where the FDA has approved them.","asOf":"2026-09-24","links":[{"label":"NICE NG151: colorectal cancer","url":"https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng151"},{"label":"NICE TA439: cetuximab and panitumumab for previously untreated metastatic colorectal cancer","url":"https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta439"},{"label":"NICE TA1136: bevacizumab (originator and biosimilars) with fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy","url":"https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta1136"},{"label":"NICE TA1065: nivolumab plus ipilimumab for untreated MSI-high or dMMR colorectal cancer","url":"https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta1065"},{"label":"NICE TA1079: fruquintinib for previously treated metastatic colorectal cancer","url":"https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta1079"},{"label":"NICE TA1008: trifluridine-tipiracil with bevacizumab","url":"https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta1008"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["colorectal"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":["cetuximab","panitumumab","bevacizumab","pembrolizumab","nivolumab","ipilimumab","encorafenib","trifluridine-tipiracil","regorafenib","fruquintinib","ziv-aflibercept","larotrectinib","entrectinib"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["cancer-drugs-fund"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Clinic basics"},"route":"/terms/colorectal-uk-drug-access/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"colorectal","kind":"cancer","name":"Colorectal cancer","route":"/cancers/colorectal/"}],"drug":[{"id":"bevacizumab","kind":"drug","name":"Bevacizumab","route":"/drugs/bevacizumab/"},{"id":"cetuximab","kind":"drug","name":"Cetuximab","route":"/drugs/cetuximab/"},{"id":"encorafenib","kind":"drug","name":"Encorafenib","route":"/drugs/encorafenib/"},{"id":"entrectinib","kind":"drug","name":"Entrectinib","route":"/drugs/entrectinib/"},{"id":"fruquintinib","kind":"drug","name":"Fruquintinib","route":"/drugs/fruquintinib/"},{"id":"ipilimumab","kind":"drug","name":"Ipilimumab","route":"/drugs/ipilimumab/"},{"id":"larotrectinib","kind":"drug","name":"Larotrectinib","route":"/drugs/larotrectinib/"},{"id":"nivolumab","kind":"drug","name":"Nivolumab","route":"/drugs/nivolumab/"},{"id":"panitumumab","kind":"drug","name":"Panitumumab","route":"/drugs/panitumumab/"},{"id":"pembrolizumab","kind":"drug","name":"Pembrolizumab","route":"/drugs/pembrolizumab/"},{"id":"regorafenib","kind":"drug","name":"Regorafenib","route":"/drugs/regorafenib/"},{"id":"trifluridine-tipiracil","kind":"drug","name":"Trifluridine/tipiracil","route":"/drugs/trifluridine-tipiracil/"},{"id":"ziv-aflibercept","kind":"drug","name":"Ziv-aflibercept","route":"/drugs/ziv-aflibercept/"}],"term":[{"id":"cancer-drugs-fund","kind":"term","name":"Cancer Drugs Fund (England)","route":"/terms/cancer-drugs-fund/"}]}}