Lawyer aids women's drug battle

Jacky Pickles is one of the women fighting for the drug

A leading human rights lawyer has agreed to help three women denied a life-extending bone cancer drug fight to receive the medication.

Janice Wrigglesworth, Jacky Pickles and Marie Morton, from Keighley, West Yorkshire, have had a consultation with London-based lawyer Stephen Grosz.

The government's health watchdog has advised that the drug, Velcade, should not be used on the NHS.

Velcade slows the advance of myeloma, cancer of bone marrow plasma cells.

Last October the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) said more research into the drug was needed.

Judicial review

After their meeting with Mr Grosz, Mrs Pickles, 44, said: "We spent over two hours with Stephen. He listened to us, he listened to our story."

Mrs Pickles said she hoped Nice would reverse its decision.

Mr Grosz helped Somerset woman Barbara Clark get access to the breast cancer drug Herceptin in October 2005.

Mrs Pickles said: "He told us nobody has ever taken Nice to a judicial review. I hope we are not going to be the first but he's going to look at all the evidence and we hope Nice has done the job properly because if they have then he's the man who is going to find out."

New treatment

About 4,000 people are diagnosed with myeloma in the UK each year.

Velcade is the first new treatment for the cancer in more than 10 years and has been licensed for patients who have relapsed.

Mrs Pickles, 44, told BBC News last autumn she was disgusted that England was stuck in the "dark ages" while the drug was available in Scotland.

The women have launched a website, www.velcadethree.co.uk, to raise funds for their court battle.

They are keen for other people who have been denied access to Velcade to get in touch and help their campaign.

Velcade costs between £9,000 and £18,000 for a course of treatment.