Search the site Donate
We're the UK's leading bowel cancer charity

NICE approves new drug for advanced bowel cancer patients in England and Wales

Thursday 3 July 2025

We're delighted to see the news that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has approved the use of the drug fruquintinib (Fruzaqla) for eligible advanced bowel cancer patients living in England and Wales. 

The drug will be available on the NHS within three months for specific patients with advanced bowel cancer, also known as stage 4 or metastatic bowel cancer, in England and Wales.  

While Northern Ireland often follows NICE decisions, a separate process applies, and we hope to see swift access for patients there too. 

Fruquintinib can be used as third-line or later treatment if trifluridine-tiparacil with bevacizumab (Lonsurf with Avastin) is not suitable. 

The news comes after the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) did not approve fruquintinib for advanced bowel cancer patients in Scotland in May this year. However, NICE assessed this treatment under different circumstances, including assessing the drug for use for narrower group of patients.

Dr Lisa Wilde, Director of Research, Policy and Influencing at Bowel Cancer UK, says: “We’re delighted NICE has approved fruquintinib for use on the NHS in England and Wales. We hope patients in Northern Ireland will soon be able to access it too. This treatment offers more options and could give patients precious extra time with their loved ones.” 

We’d like to thank patients and loved ones who contributed to this drug appraisal by providing their experience in our questionnaire. Your insights have been most valuable.

A photo of an orange pill bottle lying on its side on a blue table. The lid is off the bottle and in front of it is a pile of tablets. The tablets are all different shapes and colours.

Thanks supporter

Thanks for signing up for this great campaign. To complete the setup of your JustGiving page you need to first create an account for myemail@domain.tld, please enter a new password to use below. Alternatively if you already have an account and would like to use it just click here.

Thanks supporter

Thanks for signing up for this great campaign. To complete the setup of your JustGiving page you need to login to your myemail@domain.tld account, please enter the password for that account below. Alternatively if you have a different account you would like to use just click here.

Forgotten your password?

Forgotten password

Hi supporter, do you want to send a password reminder?.

JustGiving Login

Hi supporter, please enter your JustGiving login details below and we'll handle the rest.