Is it only remicade and humira in the UK?

You've had practically every drug going already, I'm not exactly sure what drugs you think are being withheld from your son. I don't think the adacolumn apharesis treatment is even available outside Europe and Japan (admittedly not sure, though).

Anyway, he should be able to get Golimumab (Simponi) for the AS alone, since it has been licensed for treating RA and AS in the UK since 2011. But it seems like it's just got its license for UC as well.

www.ukmi.nhs.uk/applications/ndo/record_view_open.asp?newDrugid=5004

I'm sorry for what your boy is going through, but I guarantee he would not fare any better abroad given the severity of his disease.

Post Edited (NiceCupOfTea) : 1/13/2014 11:10:52 AM (GMT-7)

My GI mentioned adacolumn as a possibility, but in the end we didn't follow up on it. My impression of my GI was that after Remicade failed, he seemed to lose hope in anything else working - pessimist, like me.

There's a couple more biologics on the market for Crohn's, but not for UC. One of them, certolizumab pegol (Cimzia), has been licensed for treating AS in Europe, though, so you could probably get it for AS and hope that it does something for the UC as well.

But honestly, you've been on practically everything already. The only drug left I can think of for severe UC is tacrolimus.

Best of luck...