Ocular Melanoma UK is calling for immediate action to end years of delay in NHS access to Chemosaturation, a proven treatment for people whose ocular melanoma has spread to the liver.

The clinical trial for chemosaturation ended in April 2020. In April 2021, NICE reviewed a treatment called Chemosaturation (also known as PHP) and moved its recommendation from “more research is needed” to saying it could be used as part of an “evidence generation period” — but no funding was ever put in place to make that happen. Since then, more data has become available and NICE has agreed to re-review the treatment, which means they recognise that the new evidence could strengthen their guidance. Because Chemosaturation is classed as an interventional procedure rather than a new drug, it follows a different route through NICE. This means NHS England, rather than NICE, is responsible for deciding when it can be made routinely available on the NHS.

More than four years on, patients are still waiting. We need NHS England to act swiftly as the evidence is clear, and the time for review has long passed. Action is needed now to prevent further avoidable loss of life for patients with current metastatic disease.

We continue to work with clinicians, MPs, and the Department of Health and Social Care to press for an interim funding route so that people are not forced to fundraise privately for treatment.