Immunotherapy is a cancer treatment that removes the brakes tumours put on the immune system, letting a patient's own T-cells find and attack cancer cells. Different drug classes are matched to a tumour's biomarkers and used alongside or instead of chemotherapy, depending on the cancer type.
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Immunotherapy is priced per cycle, not per course — so the honest question is what one cycle costs and how many you need. Set your situation below. Your exact figure comes back within 1 hour of us seeing the reports.
Several checkpoint inhibitors are dosed per kilogram, so weight moves the price directly. Flat-dose options exist and we quote both.
The biggest immunotherapy success story. If PD-L1 is 50% or higher and there is no EGFR or ALK mutation, single-agent pembrolizumab alone can work for years. Below 50%, it is combined with chemotherapy. Driver mutations must be excluded first — targeted tablets beat immunotherapy in those patients.
Indicative ranges only. The real driver is body weight for weight-based dosing, whether a flat-dose or biosimilar option exists, whether chemotherapy or a targeted tablet is combined with it, and how many cycles you actually need. We share a written per-cycle estimate and a full-course projection before you travel.
Four questions. No sign-up, no phone number.
Next: see if your own biomarkers make you a strong candidate
Immunotherapy is the most biomarker-dependent treatment in oncology. Set what your reports say below — or leave "not tested" to see how much the gaps are costing you in certainty.
Educational estimate only. It is not a prescription, does not replace an oncologist, and cannot account for your cancer's stage, previous treatments or organ function.
Immunotherapy is very likely to be part of your plan, most often combined with chemotherapy for the first few cycles. The exact combination depends on the cancer type and what testing is still missing.
Ask an oncologist about this profileImmunotherapy is not one drug — see the five families
"Immunotherapy" is not one drug. Tap a class to see what it blocks, what it is called, and who it suits.
Immunotherapy works on a completely different clock to chemotherapy. Knowing the timeline stops good treatment being abandoned at the wrong moment.
The drug does nothing to the tumour directly. It unmasks it — your T-cells now have to find it, multiply and get inside. Nothing on a scan yet.
What side effects actually look like, organ by organ
Immune side effects are not chemotherapy side effects. They can appear in any organ, weeks or even months after a dose — and almost all are manageable if reported early.
Rash, itching, vitiligo patches
Antihistamines and steroid cream. Rarely stops treatment — and vitiligo often signals the drug is working.
MonitorFatigue, weight change, feeling cold or hot
Thyroid blood tests before every cycle. Usually managed with a daily thyroxine tablet, treatment continues.
MonitorDiarrhoea, cramping, blood or mucus in stool
Report the same day. Four or more extra stools a day means steroids now — untreated colitis is the classic emergency.
Call the same dayUsually silent, found on blood tests
Liver panel before every cycle. Rising enzymes pause the drug and start steroids before you ever feel unwell.
Blood tests catch itNew cough, breathlessness on stairs, chest tightness
Stop, CT chest and steroids the same day. Pneumonitis is the most dangerous side effect and the most treatable when caught early.
Call the same daySevere fatigue, headache, dizziness, low blood pressure
Cortisol and pituitary hormones checked. Hormone replacement may be lifelong, but treatment can usually continue.
Blood tests catch itPalpitations, chest pain, sudden breathlessness
Rare but serious. Immediate ECG, troponin and cardiology review. Baseline ECG is taken for exactly this reason.
Call the same dayStiff, aching joints or muscle weakness
Usually responds to short steroid courses and physiotherapy without stopping the drug.
MonitorImmune side effects are treatable when caught in days and dangerous when caught in weeks. These are the symptoms that should never wait for the next scheduled cycle.
| Immunotherapy | Chemotherapy | |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | Removes the brakes on your own T-cells | Kills any rapidly dividing cell |
| Who responds | 20–60%, depending on biomarker | 30–50% in most solid tumours |
| How long responses last | Often years; sometimes durable after stopping | Usually months; relapse is the norm |
| Hair loss | No | Common |
| Nausea and vomiting | Uncommon | Common, needs premedication |
| Blood counts | Largely unaffected | Drops; infection risk between cycles |
| Main risk | Immune attack on thyroid, gut, lung, liver | Infection, neuropathy, marrow suppression |
| Infusion time | 30–60 minutes | 2–6 hours |
| Working through treatment | Most patients continue working | Often not for a week per cycle |
They are not rivals. In lung, bladder, breast, gastric and head and neck cancer the two are given together, because chemotherapy releases tumour antigens that make immunotherapy work better.
From the first WhatsApp message to cycles taken at home.
The histopathology report, any IHC or molecular report you already have (PD-L1, MSI, EGFR, ALK), the latest CT or PET-CT, and a list of treatments already given. Photos of paper reports are fine.
A medical oncologist tells you honestly whether immunotherapy is likely to help, what still needs testing before starting, and whether chemotherapy, a targeted tablet or a trial would serve you better.
If PD-L1, MSI/MMR or NGS has not been done, we arrange it on your existing paraffin block — no repeat biopsy in most cases. Turnaround is 3–7 days and the block can be shipped ahead of you.
An itemised per-cycle estimate with the drug brand named, biosimilar alternatives priced side by side, a full-course projection, and a hospital invitation letter issued in 2–4 hours for you and your attendant.
Thyroid, cortisol, liver, kidney and glucose baselines, hepatitis and TB screening, and a review of any autoimmune history — the checks that make immune side effects catchable early instead of dangerous.
Given in a day-care chair through a vein or port. Most patients feel nothing during it, walk out the same afternoon, and can eat and travel normally the next day.
Cycles every 2, 3 or 6 weeks. The first response assessment is deliberately delayed to 9–12 weeks because immunotherapy can make a tumour look bigger before it shrinks — pseudo-progression.
Many patients take later cycles in their own country while our oncologist reviews each scan and blood panel. Six-weekly flat dosing means as few as eight trips a year, and often none.
These are typical figures across the cancers we handle most. Immunotherapy is powerful in the right patient and useless in the wrong one — the honesty is the point, and it is why we test before we treat.
Any doctor treating you must know you are on a checkpoint inhibitor — diarrhoea or breathlessness is managed completely differently in you. We issue a card and a WhatsApp escalation line.
Steroids treat immune side effects without abolishing the anti-cancer response in most cases. Delaying them out of fear is what turns a manageable colitis into a hospital admission.
Inactivated vaccines including flu and COVID are fine and encouraged. Live vaccines are avoided. Tell us before any travel vaccination.
Immune memory persists. Patients stopped at two years are still followed with scans because relapse, when it happens, often responds to restarting the same drug.
No forms, no payment, no obligation. A senior medical oncologist reads your reports and tells you honestly whether immunotherapy is likely to help you, what still needs testing, and what each cycle costs.
We reply on WhatsApp within 1 hour. Your reports are never shared with anyone else.
Immunotherapy is a long relationship, not a single trip. We build the plan around as few flights as possible — flat six-weekly dosing, cycles delivered in your own country between reviews, and paperwork that covers a whole course rather than one visit.
"PD-L1 came back at 80%. Pembrolizumab alone, no chemotherapy, no hair loss. Two years later the lung nodules are still gone and I never stopped working."
"They found MSI-high on my old biopsy block that nobody had tested. That one test changed the whole treatment plan and the tumour has shrunk by more than half."
"Melanoma with liver spread. Combination immunotherapy, one thyroid problem managed with a tablet, and the scan at six months was clear. The price was a third of what we were quoted at home."
Chemotherapy poisons dividing cells. Immunotherapy does something completely different — it removes the brakes that a tumour puts on your own immune system so your T-cells can recognise and kill the cancer themselves. Checkpoint inhibitors block the PD-1, PD-L1 or CTLA-4 switches that tumours use to hide; CAR-T therapy re-engineers your own T-cells in a lab and gives them back. It is not right for every cancer or every patient, which is exactly why biomarker testing comes before the first vial. When it works, responses can last years — sometimes long after the drug is stopped.
No forms, no payment, no obligation. A senior medical oncologist reads your reports and tells you honestly whether immunotherapy is likely to help you, what still needs testing, and what each cycle costs.
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