A mum is one step closer to a public inquiry into a drug which allegedly ruined her life.

Nicola Williams was born with life-threatening congenital health issues which she says were caused by the pregnancy testing drug Primodos.

Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi has led the fight for a public inquiry and has now formed an all-party parliamentary group to “bring justice” for victims like Miss Williams.

The hormone drug produced by Schering — a German company later taken over by Bayer — was given to women in the UK by GPs in the 1960s and 1970s as a pregnancy test.

Campaigners claim the drug caused deformities in children and serious long-term health problems for alleged victims — claims which Bayer has always denied.

Ms Qureshi said: “There’s mounting evidence that Primodos caused deformities in babies. Those babies are now adults and they deserve justice.

“The Parliamentary group is still in the early stages, but I am writing to all of the MPs who have victims in their constituency to join us.

“I think there has been a medical cover-up and I want an apology from the Government of the day as well as compensation for the victims. This needs to be exposed.”

Miss Williams, from Little Lever, claims to have uncovered evidence that the Government was warned about the dangers of pregnancy testing drugs as far back as 1967.

The 42-year-old spent three days finding letters written between clinicians and public documents at the National Archives in Kew, London last summer.

The mum-of-three said: “I am feeling really positive about the latest development. I hope other MPs will support this cause and continue to put pressure on the Government.

“I have been in and out of hospital all of my life because of the deformities in my stomach, but there are people who are much worse off than me. We need to fight for the victims that are not here to fight themselves.”

Bayer denies that Primodos was responsible for causing any deformities in children.

A Bayer spokesman said: “Since the discontinuation of the legal action in 1982, no new scientific knowledge has been produced which would call into question the validity of the previous assessment of there being no link between the use of Primodos and the occurrence of such congenital abnormalities.”