Lung cancer sufferers in Scotland have been given hope after hospitals were cleared to treat patients with the drug Tarceva.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium gave the go-ahead for the drug, which is used to treat those with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer who have failed one previous chemotherapy regime. Tarceva, also known as erlotinib, does not cure the cancer but increases the one-year survival for patients by around 40%, said a spokeswoman for its makers, Roche.

A decision on whether it can be used in England will be made in September.