Approval For Sight-Saving Drug Posted on August 27th
9:06am UK, Wednesday August 27, 2008
Thousands of people with a devastating eye disease could have their sight saved by a drug being made available on the NHS, after a U-turn by the NHS watchdog, Nice.
The eye is susceptible to age-related disease
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is now recommending the drug Lucentis to help thousands of people with wet Age-related Macular Degeneration.
AMD is the leading cause of sight loss in the UK and destroys the central region of the retina, the macula, leading to progressive loss of sight.
It comes in two forms - wet and dry - with the dry form being far more common.
However the wet type is the more aggressive and accounts for around 90% of blindness caused by the condition.
Nice in December dropped one of the most controversial aspects of its draft guidance, which suggested that patients would need to go blind in one eye before the other could be treated.
“Lucentis is an expensive drug, costing more than £10,000 for each eye treated. But that cost needs to be balanced against the likely cost savings.
Andrew Dillon - Chief Executive of Nice
Nice’s CEO Andrew Dillon told Sky News that the main reason for the change of heart was because the maker of the drug - Novartis - had agreed to part-finance the deal.
Andrew Dillon NICE
The NHS will only fund 14 injections, with the cost of any more being met by Novartis.
The move was welcomed by the Royal National Institute for the Blind, which has been an enthusiastic campaigner for the drug.
Steve Winyard, head of campaigns at the RNIB, welcomed the news and called on PCTs to implement the Nice guidance immediately.
He said: “We’ve been waiting for this for over two years. It is a victory for thousands, bringing overwhelming relief to desperate people across the country.”