But today there is hope for people suffering from "wet" type of macular degeneration. Genentech has just received approval (June 30, 2006) for a new drug called Lucentis. Here is what one patient had to say about this drug...
"Within a week I could see again, and by the end of the month, I was seeing perfect," she said. "It was amazing how quick it happened."
Lucentis is a drug belonging to the class of agents called Angiogenesis Inhibitors. A drug belonging to this class which has made a lot of press recently in Cancer is Avastin, also made by Genentech. While Avastin has not been studied in macular degeneration, there is no reason why this drug won't be successful as well - because mechanistically, it does the same thing that Lucentis does - block the VEGF protein which causes unconstrained growth of blood vessels. Turns out, for the same treatment, Avastin may actually be a more economical treatment. No doubt some one will study the effects of Avastin on Macular degeneration soon, which will be a good thing for the patients. It also could bode bad for Lucentis sales...
Lucentis, which is covered by Medicare, costs about $2,000 for one eye injection each month; Avastin costs $17 to $50 a month for one injection.
So keep an "eye" on these new developments.
Here is the full article about Lucentis and Avastin
