A woman with an aggressive form of breast cancer who has been denied funds for the drug Herceptin has said she feels she has been handed a "death sentence" by her local NHS trust.

Ann Marie Rogers, 54, is fighting a landmark high court battle to force health service managers to pay for her treatment. She has been refused the drug, which is said to halve the chances of the aggressive Her2 form of breast cancer returning, by Swindon primary care trust (PCT) in Wiltshire.

Herceptin targets cells that make too much of the Her2 protein, which is found on the surface of cancer cells, and slows or stops the growth of these cells.

If Ms Rogers' challenge is successful, the health service could be forced to give the £22,000-a-year drug free of charge to hundreds of women in the early stage of the Her2 breast cancer.

The trust says the drug is currently licensed for treating advanced breast cancer, and its policy is to fund it only for early stage treatment "in exceptional cases".

After considering the case of Ms Rogers, a former restaurant manager from Haydon Wick, Swindon, the PCT concluded there were no "exceptional clinical or personal circumstances" in her case.

But in a statement to the high court yesterday, Ms Rogers said: "My honest view is that I feel like the refusal of Herceptin is as though I have been given a punishment, like a death sentence. With my prognosis, waiting for the cancer to return is like waiting on death row."

Ms Rogers told the court she lived in "constant fear" of dying from the disease, which had killed her mother and a cousin. She has borrowed £5,000 for treatment so far but said she could not afford to buy more drugs. In December, the high court was ordered by the PCT to continue funding Herceptin pending the outcome of her legal challenge.

At the start of a two-day case before Mr Justice Bean in London yesterday, Ms Rogers' counsel, Ian Wise, accused the trust of operating an "arbitrary, irrational and unlawful" policy which went against a direction and guidelines given by the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt.

Mr Wise told the judge that the health secretary had made it clear Herceptin could only be refused if there were "clinical concerns" relating to side effects.

He argued that the trust's policy breached Ms Rogers' right to life under article 2 of the European convention on human rights, and the right to respect for her private life under article 8. He added that Swindon's approach to funding the drug also gave rise to "a postcode lottery".

Philip Havers QC, for the trust, told the court that the PCT had "great sympathy for Ms Rogers and other patients with breast cancer". But he said the trust's policy was not unlawful and was "wholly in line with the guidance issued by the secretary of state".

The hearing was adjourned until today.