A DECISION today by drugs watchdog Nice to back a new lung cancer drug has vindicated North-East officials.

In December 2005, the North- East Cancer Drug Approvals Group recommended consultants in the region should be able to prescribe the cancer drug Alimta.

The decision was taken before the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) had ruled on the drug's suitability for the NHS.

This meant that North-East patients with the asbestos-linked lung cancer mesothelioma were among the first in the country to get the drug on the NHS.

Alimta, developed by Newcastle University scientists, has not been widely available outside the North-East because health officials were waiting for the final Nice guidance.

Early last year, Nice said there was insufficient evidence for the drug to be prescribed on the NHS.

But after lobbying by scientists and cancer charities, Nice has today decided to recommend Alimta in the treatment of mesothelioma.

Professor Hilary Calvert, of Newcastle University, who published the first scientific paper on Alimta in 2002, said: "This is very good news. Alimta is the only treatment which has been shown to prolong life.

"Although the average increase is three months, many patients do better and live a normal life for a number of years.

"It also offers a reduction in the symptoms for most patients, particularly easing breathing and pain, and this means the quality of life of the patient increases dramatically."

He said the decision also encouraged further research into the treatment of mesothelioma - about 2,000 cases are diagnosed nationwide each year.

The North-East, with its history of shipbuilding and heavy industry, has the biggest concentration of mesothelioma cases in the country.

The condition is caused by exposure to airborne asbestos fibres, which lodge in the lining of the lungs.

Dr Gillian Leng, from Nice, said as a result of comments received since the interim guidance was published, a number of significant factors had become apparent, enabling Nice to recommend Alimta as a treatment for the majority of people with mesothelioma.