A MAN whose wife lost her brave battle against breast cancer despite winning the right to be treated with herceptin has said he is astounded women still struggle to get the drug.

Michelle Hilton died in 2001 and her husband Barrie today said he was "disgusted" by the fact some patients have had to go to court to get the treatment.

Mr Hilton said: "It all comes back to me when I see people having to fight for the drug. It really does bring the thoughts back from when Michelle and myself were campaigning for the drug.

"I can't believe it is happening again, it's a total disgrace. It is horrendous."

Mother-of-two Michelle, 37, of Beechwood Drive, Blackburn, spent 18 months fighting to get the NHS to pay for herceptin to prolong her life during advanced stages of the cancer.

But by the time she finally won her appeal --six-and-half years after first being diagnosed with the disease -- she was too weak to take it and died two months later.

The drug has since been passed by national health chiefs and is widely used for women with advanced breast cancer -- but a similar campaign is now under way to give it to those in the early stages.

Health secretary Patricia Hewitt last week intervened in the case of 41-year-old Elaine Barber, whose cancer was in remission but who had been warned it could return. Mrs Barber failed at the High Court to get North Stoke Primary Care Trust to pay for herceptin, yet the trust agreed to pay up after Mrs Hewitt got involved.

And last month 49-year-old Barbara Clark, of Somerset, won her battle to get the drug at the early stages. She said she had face having to sell her house to pay for treatment.

Mr Hilton said: "My reaction to those people was: 'I can't read it'. That someone else was campaigning to get the drug, that they had to go through what Michelle had to. It has a horrendous effect on the family."

Health chiefs said the recent victories will force the NHS to pay for herceptin - a decision Mrs Hewitt insists lies with primary care trusts (PCTs).

Mr Hilton said: "I think it is brilliant news. I am sure there are a lot more women up and down the country who are in exactly the same position."

Yet it has still not been approved by drug regulator the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and many feel until then PCTs will be reluctant to pay £20,000 a year to administer the drug.

East Lancashire PCTs are to agree detailed guidelines at the end of this month but have already said herceptin should "not be refused on financial grounds".