CANCER patients in Wales whose treatment has left them prone to strength-sapping anaemia have been denied access to drugs that might improve their quality of life.

Almost 2,400 patients, including many in Gwent who could have benefited from the use of erythropoetins, or EPOs - drugs that combat the fatigue caused by anaemia - will not be able to get them on the NHS in Wales.

The decision was made by the All-Wales Medicines Strategy Group.

The ruling by the group that decides which drugs should be available through the NHS in Wales angered patients' groups.

One, the International Myeloma Foundation (UK), believes it will rob patients with incurable cancer of the chance of a better quality of life.

"Chronic anaemia and fatigue are very common and extremely debilitating complications of myeloma and cancer generally, that are almost always overlooked," said the foundation's executive director Eric Low, who called the decision "a serious setback for patients".

Chemotherapy-induced anaemia is a chronic condition that affects many people with cancer.

EPOs offer an alternative to patients currently treated with a blood transfusion.

Around 18,000 transfusions are given for this purpose in the UK every year.

EPOs free up blood supplies for other emergencies and can be given in a patient's home.

The All-Wales Medicines Strategy Group voted not to support the use of erythropoetins in the treatment of anaemia associated with cancer, due to a lack of evidence of their cost-effectiveness.

One EPO, NeoRocormon , costs £4,200-£12,800 per patient per year, depending on dosage and length of treatment.

The decision also angered the manufacturer of NeoRocormon, drug-giant Roche.

Only 30 patients in Wales are currently prescribed NeoRocormon but the company estimates another 2,400 would be likely to be.

It had asked the All-Wales group to postpone its meeting about erythropoetins until March to allow the completion of evidence-based studies into the drugs' effectiveness.

But the meeting went ahead last month and Roche intends to appeal.

NICE, the UK's drugs and treatments standards body, will consider the issue of erythropoetins during 2004, and its findings may lead to a turnaround.