Asthma campaigners vowed to fight on today after medical chiefs rejected a pioneering new drug as too costly for a second time.

Asthma campaigners vowed to fight on today after medical chiefs rejected a pioneering new drug as too costly for a second time.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium again chose not to approve Xolair for use by NHS Scotland.

Medical chiefs originally knocked it back in June last year on the grounds of cost, and gave the same reason today.

The SMC said the economic case for the drug - which would cost up to £20,000 per year for each patient and is also known as omalizumab - "had not been demonstrated".

Comparisons were made with other anti-asthma drugs costing less than £400 annually per patient to administer.

Asthma charities and campaigners again attacked the decision as "inhumane", claiming Xolair had a life-enhancing impact for hundreds of sufferers.

Donna Covey, chief executive of action group Asthma UK, said: "Xolair has been proved to be safe and effective and to transform people's lives.

"For people with difficult to control asthma who can't get their symptoms under control with existing drugs, Xolair offers the possibility of living free from the fear of a severe asthma attack. One in 10 people in Scotland with severe asthma symptoms says that once a week they have an asthma attack so severe they cannot speak.

"One in five is seriously concerned that the next asthma attack will kill them.

"This drug is the only hope that some people currently have, and to take it away from them on the grounds of cost is unjust and inhumane."