Amanda d'Argue will appeal the trust's ruling

Mother-of-two Amanda d'Argue, 39, of Bolton, had been told the drug was not licensed for use on sufferers in the early stages of cancer.

Her primary care trust said she could appeal after bosses met on Wednesday.

Ms d'Argue said: "I'm really pleased and I'm going to go ahead with the appeal straight away."

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in July and has undergone a mastectomy, chemotherapy and still faces 15 radiotherapy sessions.

The results are so very good that we do need to make this drug available as soon as possible Dr Andrew Wardley, Christie Hospital

She believes the drug, which is already used on patients in the advanced stages of breast cancer, could prevent the disease returning.

Trials are being carried out to assess its benefits and possible side effects when used on women in the earlier stages of the disease.

Bolton Primary Care Trust said it would not approve the drug until it was certain it was safe.

But Ms d'Argue had claimed the real issue was the cost of the drug, which can be �30,000 a year.

Meanwhile, a leading breast cancer specialist at Manchester's Christie Hospital has recommended the drug be made available on the NHS immediately.

'Save people'

Dr Andrew Wardley, a consultant who is leading a panel of doctors to decide the effectiveness of the drug, said: "There are issues that we have to pay for these drugs and this is indeed a very expensive drug.

"Obviously the results are so very good that we do need to make this drug available as soon as possible so that we can save people from dying from breast cancer.

"I very much hope that all these ladies out there like Amanda will have access to this drug which makes a huge difference as far as the possibility of recurrence and therefore the chance of dying from a very aggressive form of breast cancer."