use of a licensed medicine for an age group that is not covered by its licence
use of a licensed medicine for an illness that is not included in its licence
use of a medicine that is only available from abroad and has to be imported (it may have a licence in other countries)
use of a medicine that needs to be made specially because it cannot be obtained easily; for example, a patient may not be able to swallow a tablet or capsule (which is licensed) and needs a liquid (unlicensed) version of the medicine. Many medicines that are widely used are unlicensed. This gives doctors more choice about which medicine to use than if they could only use licensed medicines.
Before we go down the "unlicensed" rabbit hole
Here are some examples of unlicensed uses:
use of a licensed medicine for an age group that is not covered by its licence
use of a licensed medicine for an illness that is not included in its licence
use of a medicine that is only available from abroad and has to be imported (it may have a licence in other countries)
use of a medicine that needs to be made specially because it cannot be obtained easily; for example, a patient may not be able to swallow a tablet or capsule (which is licensed) and needs a liquid (unlicensed) version of the medicine. Many medicines that are widely used are unlicensed. This gives doctors more choice about which medicine to use than if they could only use licensed medicines.