A DECISION by treatment regulators to deny lung cancer patients a drug that could improve their quality of life is unfair and illogical says a Gwent sufferer's daughter.

Carole Davies, 61, of Caerleon, died of lung cancer last June, daughter Rebecca Layton having spent her mother's final weeks running a campaign to try to secure the £2,000-a-month treatment on the NHS.

Mrs Davies and husband Mal dipped into savings to buy the drug privately, after being told the other drug available - docetaxol - was not suitable in her case.

NICE (the National Institute for Clinical Excellence) which surveys cost effectiveness and cost efficiency of treatments and issues guidelines on suitability for use on the NHS, has ruled that Tarceva, also known as erlotinib, not be made available.

This ruling will be reviewed in November 2009, when a comparative study of docetaxol and Tarceva has been completed and results evaluated.

"It's illogical because my mother was told docetaxol was not an option for her, so Tarceva was the only alternative," said Mrs Layton.

"It was available on the NHS in Scotland, but nowhere else in the UK. We felt we had to fight that, and that time we would much rather have spent with her."

Manufacturers Roche, who are appealing against the NICE decision, estimate 2,300 lung cancer patients will now be denied Tarceva as a last treatment choice for non-small cell lung cancer.

The company and the Roy Castle Lung Foundation charity, which also campaigns on the Tarceva issue, believe it to be cost- and clinically effective.

The drug is not a cure, but is seen as a means to lengthen and improve quality of life.

Because it can be taken at home in tablet form, it is more convenient for patients.

England, Wales and Northern Ireland are now believed to be the only countries in western Europe not funding Tarceva.