A Welsh minister's decision to approve the use of a new bowel cancer drug has been overruled by the government's health watchdog.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) announced on Monday that the cetuximab drug is not "a good use of scarce NHS resources".

"The evidence available on cetuximab does not compare it to current standard treatment and therefore we are not able to assess whether it is any better than existing treatments or whether the NHS could justify spending money on the drug," deputy chief executive Andrea Sutcliffe said.

The move prompted an angry response from cancer charities and concern over the future of Welsh patients after Cardiff Bay health minister Brian Gibbons had approved NHS spending on the drug in June.

The Nice move means that the Welsh administration will have to reverse that decision, with a spokesman saying Gibbons was "highly unlikely" to appeal.

But patients in Wales currently receiving the drug will continue to do so.