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More polls » Doctors have been given the go-ahead to prescribe an asthma "wonder drug" on the Health Service.

The Government's health watchdog has ruled that Xolair, which halves the risk of an asthma attack, should be given to all patients with the severe form of the disease.

The treatment could cut the toll of 1,400 Britons who die from asthma each year, as well as the 69,000 patients who end up in hospital.

Until now severe asthma sufferers - around one in ten of those with the disease - have had to rely on large doses of powerful steroid drugs.

These often fail to control symptoms and can cause kidney damage and weight gain.

Asthma attacks occur when the body detects a foreign body in the system but overreacts by producing large amounts of antibodies.

Previous treatments - such as inhalers and oral steroids - work by suppressing the symptoms rather than tackling the causes.

But Xolair blocks the allergic triggers responsible for attacks.

Trials of Xolair, also known as omalizumab, found that it cut the risk of asthma attack by 55 per cent and reduced hospital admissions by a half.

The drug costs £250 per jab and most patients will require two a month - costing £6,000 a year.

The charity Asthma UK said it was "thrilled" by the decision of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to give the go-ahead for Xolair.

Asthma UK chief executive Neil Churchill said: "This is a victory for people with severe, allergic asthma, who have fought to receive this life-changing drug.

"Existing asthma treatments just don't work for around half a million people across the UK living with difficult-to-control asthma.

"Xolair will be suitable for a small number of these people and will literally transform their lives.

"This treatment really can mean the difference between a life worth living and having no quality of life at all."

He said it was expected to become available to patients within the next three months.

The decision is expected to benefit 6,000 patients a year and will save the NHS money because 80 per cent of what is spent on asthma goes on the 20 per cent of people with the most severe symptoms.

The treatment of asthma sufferers currently costs the NHS almost £9billion a year.

The NICE ruling comes a month after the drug was approved for patients in Scotland.

Gillian Leng, deputy chief executive of NICE, said: "Severe persistent asthma greatly restricts the quality of life of the individual and can result in limited physical activity, continuous daytime symptoms and frequent symptoms at night.

"The approval of omalizumab improves the options available to the minority of people with asthma who are classified as having this more severe form, and sets clear standards for the NHS in England and Wales on how it should be used."

Professor Mark Britton, vice-president of the British Lung Foundation, said the NICE guidance should make it "significantly easier" for clinicians "to set up appropriate systems to treat with this medication".

He added: "This will have a significant impact on patients.

"Most patients have seen a major improvement in quality of life and some have seen a dramatic improvement with a significant decrease in their need for other asthma therapy."