A NORTH-EAST cancer patient is celebrating after his local NHS trust agreed to fund life-extending treatment.

Jimmy Jenkyns, 55, from South Shields, South Tyneside, has been trying for most of the year to persuade health bosses to pay for a revolutionary new lung cancer drug called Tarceva.

The drug is available on the NHS in Scotland and much of the rest of Europe, but after the drugs watchdog the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) decided Tarceva was not cost-effective, NHS patients in England have not been able to get it.

In despair, Mr Jenkyns and his wife, Deanne, decided to pay for the drug privately at a cost of £1,700 a month.

Another lung cancer patient, Dave Hill, 45, from Darlington, has launched a public appeal to help him pay for Tarceva after his specialist told him he was unlikely to get the drug on the NHS.

Yesterday, after South Tyneside Primary Care Trust was shown scan results showing that Mr Jenkyns' tumour had shrunk by about a third, it agreed to pay for two months' worth of drugs.

Mrs Jenkyns said: "I am still on cloud nine. It has been such a long haul. Nobody should have to fight like this for cancer drugs. It is outrageous it has taken so long to get this decision."

Since he began using Tarceva, Mr Jenkyns' health has significantly improved.

His wife said: "He is not out of breath any more. He has more energy and he is now leading a pretty normal life."

Tarceva is not seen as a cure, but many cancer doctors believe it can prolong the length and quality of life for patients.

It is licensed for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, where it has spread, and after at least one chemotherapy drug has failed to work.

Taken daily, it works by disrupting the way cancer cells grow and divide.

Dr Judy Thomas, executive director of public health for NHS South of Tyne and Wear, said: "This decision was made on an individual case basis only in response to personal circumstances presented by Mr Jenkyns.

"It has no implications regionally on whether or not Tarceva is provided generally on the NHS."