HUNDREDS of multiple sclerosis sufferers in North and East Yorkshire are likely to be denied access to drugs they believe can help them because they are too expensive.

Documents leaked to national newspapers suggest that new guidance being drafted by the health advisory body, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), will not call for increased use of the life-enhancing drug beta-interferon on the NHS.

Vanessa Lindsay Smith, general manager at the Multiple Sclerosis Society's Woodlands Respite Care Centre, off Hull Road, in York, which cares for about 400 MS sufferers a year, said she and all her staff were very disappointed by the news. She felt the decision was an economic one, adding that some of the people they worked with were on the drug and many more were waiting to go on it.

Vanessa said: "It seems totally unfair that these people are being allowed to suffer because of cost. It is denying people the chance of a treatment. Yet another delay means that people waiting to take it may go past the point where it can be useful to them.

"NICE is just not prepared to regard this as a cost-effective treatment. It's very unfair for all those who are suffering."

Peter Cardy, chief executive of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, said: "We are dismayed but not entirely surprised. We shall continue to press for the verdict to be reversed."

The institute's proposals on beta-interferon have been awaited for several months. They follow a storm of protest last year when the institute said there was not enough evidence about the effectiveness of the drug to justify its expense, but then agreed to look again at the issue.

Updated: 11:58 Wednesday, August 08, 2001