A proposal to ban the drug beta interferon has been condemned by a multiple sclerosis sufferer as inhuman and unjust.

Janet Farnes, from Welland, is not taking the drug herself but says she believes people with MS should have the option of trying it.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) is considering a leaked report indicating that the benefits of the drug do not justify its cost to the NHS - up to £10,000 per patient per year.

Mrs Farnes said it was the only drug proven to give some relief to some sufferers and that without it, people would get worse more quickly and be more dependent on social services, in addition to the financial and emotional cost to the family.

"This is particularly galling when one considers the money poured into diseases which one might consider 'self inflicted'. We did nothing to court this terrible disease," she said.

Director of public health Dr Brian McCloskey said six patients in Worcestershire were receiving beta interferon with others on a waiting list.

"Worcestershire Health Authority has discussed the drug's merits on three occasions and our advice has always been that it doesn't have sufficient benefits to justify the cost. That coincides with advice given to NICE," he said.

Dr McCloskey said he believed the "modest benefits" had been hyped up by the drug companies.

A member of the Worcester and District branch of the MS Society, 33-year-old Lynn Detheridge, has been taking beta interferon for the past three years. She said it had changed her life by halting the rapid progression of disability and stabilising her condition.

"I was unable to walk when I first had beta interferon but 24 hours after my weekly injections the symptoms completely disappear," she said.

"If I knew I was going to stay on it from year to year I could probably go back to work."