Around 26,000 people develop wet AMD in the UK each year, and the disease can cause impaired vision, leading to blindness.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recently announced that it was recommending the use of Lucentis for the disease, a drug which costs the NHS GBP761.20 per injection – but only in one eye due to the cost. However, some doctors in the US are using the cancer drug Avastin, also made by Genentech, as a cheaper alternative to Lucentis. Split into smaller doses, Avastin costs only GBP10 per injection.
According to UK newspaper The Guardian, the NHS is now funding a trial which will compare Avastin directly with Lucentis. Meanwhile, in the Greater Manchester area, public health directors of Primary Care Trusts have taken the unprecedented decision to offer patients Avastin on the NHS.
The Guardian quoted said Peter Elton, director of public health for Bury, as saying: “We think as many people as possible should be treated for wet AMD. To afford it we need to use Avastin. If you have only got one eye affected, the other eye might get something else the next year. By the time you come to treat the wet eye, it has gone too far. We think that is not ethically acceptable.”