A BREAST cancer drug which could help hundreds of North-East women live longer has finally been made available on the NHS.

Herceptin can prolong the life of women suffering from a certain type of advanced breast cancer but has not been widely available in the UK, despite being used around the world.

Yesterday, the Government's medicines watchdog, the National Institute for Clinical Excellent (NICE) issued long-awaited guidance on the use of the drug, recommending that it is made available on the NHS and funded by health authorities.

NICE has been widely criticised for the length of time it has taken to reach the decision, and some health authorities and hospitals, mainly in the South-East, chose to pay for the treatment while they waited for the ruling.

This resulted in a "postcode lottery" for the drug, whereby women in the catchment area could get it but those living just a few miles away were refused.

Secretary of State for Health Alan Milburn said yesterday: "Until today's decision, many women had been denied this drug. That will now all change. All health authorities will now be expected to fund herceptin for women who can benefit from it."

The drug will cost about £17m a year and will benefit about 2,000 women suffering from HER2 metastatic breast cancer.

Dr John Hardman, consultant in clinical oncology at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, said: "This is a completely new class of drug and it has shown a considerable survival advantage for patients, as well as improving their quality of life.

"Unlike chemotherapy, it targets the breast cancer cell so there are fewer side effects.

"There are currently only three centres in this country that test specimens for the HER2 protein and what the NHS has to do now is develop the whole lab system to make sure everyone who can benefit from herceptin does."