Women with early stage breast cancer should be able to get the "wonder drug" Herceptin on the NHS within months after a licensing application made today by its manufacturer.

Roche, the pharmaceutical giant, announced this morning that it had submitted an application to the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) for the use of Herceptin to treat women in the early stages of the disease.

A licence is likely to be granted within months, with guidance issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) shortly afterwards.

NICE, which recommends on best practice for the NHS in England and Wales, has already put in motion a fast-tracking process for the drug, which will ensure its appraisal is already well under way before a licence is even granted.

However breast cancer sufferers said today that the moves to extend use of Herceptin would not be quick enough for many women.

Access to the drug around the country has been compared to a "postcode lottery", with some health trusts deciding to provide it while others do not.

A course of treatment, which costs £21,000, is far more expensive than other medications, while there are also concerns about prescribing it before the full safety and regulatory checks have been completed.

This week, Ann Marie Rogers, a mother of three, lost her legal challenge over her local NHS trust’s refusal to fund treatment with Herceptin, which is not currently licensed for use in the early stages of breast cancer.

Ms Rogers’s solicitor today welcomed Roche’s announcement, but he said it had come too late for many women with the disease.

"We, of course, welcome this move," Dave Standard, spokesman for Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, said. "However, it will not be quick enough for Ann Marie Rogers and many other women in similar positions.

"While we welcome this, we still hope people realise that we are going to appeal against the decision for Ann Marie, who needs Herceptin, and needs it now.

"This does not help the women who are currently living under a ‘death sentence’ from being denied this potentially life saving drug on account of where they live in England and Wales."

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