Campaigner Kate Spall is planning a legal challenge against Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust to win the life-extending cancer drug Sunitinib for patients.

Ms Spall, who has won 70 appeals for cancer patients across the country, condemned the PCT for its "draconian" policy regarding Sunitinib, which is used to treat people suffering kidney cancer.

The 36-year-old called on the PCT to start funding the licensed drug, ahead of its approval next year by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence.

Currently a postcode lottery means the PCT does not routinely fund the drug for sufferers, despite the fact it is offered elsewhere around the country.

She said: "Oxfordshire PCT has the harshest policy regarding funding for Sunitinib in the country and it appears to be designed to block access to patients seeking the drug.

"It is the most draconian policy and the PCT seems to be taking the lead in denying the drug to patients."

Ms Spall is in touch with the Oxford-based group Frog, Friends of Renal Oncology Group, which today meets today Peter Telford, the barrister who works with Ms Spall.

To date, Stephen Dallison, 33, from Oxford, is the only patient in the county to win the right to have the £2,500-a-month drug prescribed after appealing against the PCT's decision. Twenty have been denied the drug.

That is despite more than half of the country's PCTs prescribing the drug.

Ms Spall worked on Mr Dallison's case, and also on the case of Martyn Sumner, 52, from Cumnor, who died from renal cancer in March.

Ms Spall launched her campaign when her mother Pamela Northcott died after being refused a cancer drug.

She added: "Oxfordshire is a real hotspot for the refusal of Sunitinib and enough is enough. I'm seeking legal advice to go through the policy in detail because a blanket ban on these drugs appears to be unlawful.

"There are now 80 PCTs out of 152 where you can get the drug and there is growing evidence that it could be a life-saving drug, not merely a life-extending one."

Ms Spall, who gave up her job to campaign for cancer sufferers, said: "I am utterly appalled at the way Oxfordshire PCT treats cancer patients - in particular kidney cancer patients.

"It's morally and clinically reprehensible.

"I am currently taking advice from a leading clinical expert and QC to look into their policies further."

Ms Spall is also working on the case of Andy Crabb, 49, from Abingdon, who has been forced to pay for Suninitib himself after being refused the drug by the PCT.

Mr Crabb, from Crosslands Drive, said: "Kate is one of the leading campaigners on this issue.

"I travelled to Cheshire to see her so we could discuss my case."

Jenny Wheeler, 54, from Kidlington, set up a local campaign to fight for the drug after her husband Jim, 57, suffered kidney cancer that spread to other parts of his body.

The father-of-two was declined funding shortly before his death in May.

David Dunbar, healthcare priorities practitioner for Oxfordshire PCT, said Sunitinib was not normally funded because there was "limited evidence of the cost-effectiveness of treatment with this drug".

He said: "Oxfordshire PCT will, however, consider approval of funding for patients where their clinical circumstances differ significantly from those found in the general population of patients with the disease, and the individual patient is likely to gain significantly more benefit than might be expected from an average patient with the condition.

"The PCT has previously approved funding for Sunitinib where the clinical circumstances provided grounds for funding as an exception to the general rule."