Chu Kwok Yiu, Wilson v Preliminary Investigation Committee 

[2025] HKCFI 3535, the Applicant challenged PIC’s decision (

) not to refer a complaint to the Medical Council. The doctor prescribed Sunitinib as an ‘off label’ prescription to treat a patient who suffered from a relapse of unresectable liver cancer but outlived the expected median overall survival for the incurable disease (around 10 months) by many years.

Coleman J reaffirmed the PIC’s role is to screen out complaints. The test is whether there is a 

 case of professional misconduct. The PIC should examine whether the complaint has any real prospect of being established, and it may conduct preliminary investigations. It is not automatically required to refer a complaint for inquiry when there is a conflict of evidence. Whether the complaint has a real prospect does not depend on the mere presence or absence of any conflict of evidence but on an assessment of the materials overall, which is within the purview of the PIC who brings its professional judgment to bear.

Coleman J went on to reject all three grounds of review advanced by the Applicant:

, instructed by the Department of Justice, for the Respondent.

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To Prescribe or Not to Prescribe: Sunitinib ‘Off Label’ Prescription for Relapse and Unresectable Liver Cancer Patient Who Outlived Typical Prognosis by Many Years Found Not to Constitute Professional Misconduct

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