A HUSBAND today spoke of his anger after a life enhancing breast cancer drug was made available on the NHS just months after his wife died from the disease.

Barrie Hilton, of Beechwood Drive, Blackburn, said he would always wonder whether Herceptin would have given 37 year-old Michelle precious extra time with him and their two daughters, Peri, 15, and Bethany 12.

The government's medicines watchdog, the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE), today said the drug would be made available on the NHS after a 12 month consultation process, taken even though Herceptin was passed safe for use in Britain in 1999.

Michelle had successfully fought an 18 month battle to be given the drug, which targets an overactive gene that causes cancer in 20 per cent of women, from The Christie Hospital, Manchester, after an emotional appeal in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph last August.

Hospital bosses agreed to pay for the drug weeks later without government ratification as they said it was inappropriate that Herceptin was available on trial in Birmingham and Merseryside, but not at The Christie Hospital.

But the decision came too late as Michelle died in October before she had the chance to take one dose of Herceptin.

Following her death, the Hilton family and Michelle's close friends handed a petition with 6,500 names to Blackburn MP Jack Straw demanding that the NICE add Herceptin to the whole of the NHS.

Research proved that the drug slows the growth and spread of tumours, and gave some patients a 10 per cent better chance of survival.

It is thought the estimated cost of the drug on the NHS would be £10m and critics have cited this as the reason for the long delay approving Herceptin.

Barrie said that cost should not be an issue when a mother like Michelle was on the brink of death.

He said he was delighted other women would not have to fight for the drug when they are ill like Michelle.

But he said he felt an overwhelming anger that the NICE did not speed up their decision following Michelle's death, as it was always scheduled to be made this March.

He said: "I felt that we certainly helped Chrisite and the East Lancashire Health Authority make a decision.

"But our appeal doesn't seem to have made any difference to the NICE who have taken the same amount of time they always said they were going to. I need some answers from somewhere. I feel it's about time.

"I thought hearing this decision would satisfy me but I don't feel that. I haven't got the closure. It is too late for Michelle and when I think about it I get annoyed.

"I just think about Michelle and how she would feel about it all, but I cannot imagine how she felt when she was told something that could help her wasn't available to her.

"I wish she could've had this drug. I will never know if it would have worked. It could have given her a chance of a longer life - but we never got the chance.

"I would like to ask Tony Blair what he would have done if his wife was in the same situation as Michelle."

Prof Gordon McVie, joint director general of Cancer Research UK, welcomed today's decision. He said: "The improvements in survival from Herceptin both as a single agent and in combination with paclitaxel are well documented."

"Women in health authorities across England and Wales will now have equal access to a treatment which is proven to not only increase survival but also improve quality of life."