The leader of a campaign group fighting for the life-extending drug Sunitinib has received 100 emails following yesterday's Oxford Mail report on plans to scrap the cancer drug.

Kidney cancer sufferer Clive Stone, from Freeland, near Witney, described a National Institute of Clinical Excellence (Nice) draft ruling that the drug was too expensive as "shocking".

But the 60-year-old said a national campaign to overturn the decision was already gathering pace. He said: "I've had about 100 emails of support. Things are really moving forward. We are not confident yet, but we are hopeful."

Mr Stone is in contact with Sunitinib campaigner Kate Spall, who has won 70 appeals on behalf of cancer patients refused the drug. Twenty patients in the county have been denied Sunitinib because of Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust's policy of only prescribing the drug in exceptional circumstances.

Nice - which decides if drugs should be paid for by the NHS - announced on Thursday that four kidney cancer drugs, including Sunitinib, were not cost effective.

Prof John Wagstaff, honorary consultant in medical oncology at the South Wales Cancer Institute, said: "The possibility we may be prevented from offering Sunitinib to our patients is an outrage and a devastating blow to the kidney cancer community."

Banbury MP Tony Baldry said cases where doctors disagreed with Nice decisions should be referred to an independent adjudication panel. Henley MP John Howell said: "We can only keep up the pressure and hope Nice changes its mind."

The county's other MPs were yesterday unavailable for comment.

Nice spokesman Frank Gordon said: "The consultation process is open and transparent. Our draft guidance has changed on past occasions as a result of stakeholder feedback."

Nice will consult with cancer charities, the Department of Health and drug companies before issuing its final guidance in January. That consultation period runs until August 29.