SUFFERERS of the Swindon Disease were celebrating after an NHS watchdog agreed to lift a ban on the only drug known to help sufferers of asbestos-related cancer.

The National Institution for Clinical Excellence (Nice) had previously only allowed pemetrexed disodium, sold under the name Alimta, to be used in clinical trials, but the treatment could be offered on the NHS within months.

Swindon solicitor Brigitte Chandler, who specialises in asbestos cases, said that the drug was a glimmer of hope for people with the disease.

"It is one of the very few treatments available for mesothelioma which benefits patients. This is great news for all of us who have campaigned to get the guidance changed. It wasn't generally permitted to prescribe it because the costs were so considerable.

"They have now decided, because of the benefits it has, that it should be used.

"The benefits include some extension of life and it does help to reduce pain and breathlessness.

"This is a form of chemotherapy and there are people who won't want to have it because of what it involves, but it is pretty much the only thing that can make any difference.

"There is an operation but it is not very effective and can't always be done."

Pemetrexed disodium can extend the lives of mesothelioma sufferers, with average patients living an extra three months, but many patients have had better health for several years.

Mesothelioma is known as the Swindon Disease because of the number of people in the town who developed it after working in the railway industry.

It can take up to 60 years after exposure to asbestos for symptoms of the cancer to show and is almost always terminal.

Nice had ruled that the treatment should not be licensed for use outside clinical trials in England and Wales because pemetrexed disodium costs about £8,000 for each patient and the watchdog said that there was not enough evidence that it performed better than cheaper treatments.

The medicine manufacturers and campaign groups appealed and Nice lifted the decision last year.

After taking the comments into consideration, Nice said it discovered that the drug could still be effective if used in lower doses and shorter treatment cycles.

Revised guidance now says the drug could be used on patients with advanced cancer, but who can carry out day-to-day tasks.

Tony Whitston, chairman of the Asbestos Support Group's Forum, said: "At last Nice has stood up for these neglected patients and acknowledged that we have a duty of care to these people that cannot be defined by cost effectiveness alone."