Study: trade name Avastin, Lucentis is equally effective for eyes

A new study shows that a cheaper drug for a common eye disease as effective as a more expensive an approved for the condition. By Genentech

Trade name Avastin, a drug that is used in the treatment of macular degeneration.

By Genentech

Trade name Avastin, a drug that is used in the treatment of macular degeneration.

The results are expected by many doctors and patients turn away from the more expensive Lucentis and instead use $ 50 shots of trade name Avastin for wet age-related condition called macular degeneration.Vision improvement after one year was the same for that particular monthly shots of trade name Avastin or Lucentis, the 1 200-patient study found.A concern: more serious side effects occurred under trade name Avastin users. But they are not the type that usually seen with these drugs, and only wider use and more study will tell whether a safer than the other, eye experts said.The results are a blow to the Roche Genentech unit, which sells both medicines. Trade name Avastin is a cancer drug that doctors have used for many years for the treatment of the eye disease, although it is not approved for that purpose. Lucentis Genetech later developed for the eye disease, and it was approved in 2006. A company spokesman said Thursday that the company had no plans to sell trade name Avastin approval for eyes use search.Yet the results are a blessing for patients and insurers because nothing prevents them from using the cheaper trade name Avastin, eye specialists said. Doctors who use it for the eye disease should be a pharmacist to prepare lower doses injection instead of the intravenous route is used to get cancer. "It is always good news for patients if there is more than one option for a condition. It is good news for the country. Now we have the potential for significant savings at a time when healthcare costs skyrocketing is out, "had said Dr. Paul Sternberg, Chairman of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute. Hey no role in the study, which was led by Maureen Maguire at the University of Pennsylvania. Results were published online Thursday by the New England Journal of Medicine and will be presented on an examination of the eye Conference on Sunday. Anyone want to now use Lucentis will have to justify its costs to insurers and policymakers, Dr. Philip Rosenfeld of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami wrote in a main article with the study. He has no ties with Genentech but has consulted for several other companies developing eye treatments.More than 250,000 Americans are treated every year for macular degeneration, "said Dr. Paul Sieving, Director of the Institute for the national eye, the Federal agency that paid for the study. The disease occurs when the growth of abnormal blood vessels is damaging the part of the retina responsible for central vision, and the two drugs are targeted to a protein that spurs growth of blood vessels.The drugs injected by the white part of the eye in the central cavity. Numbing drops are used and patients generally feels pressure more than pain, Sternberg explained. "The first time that you tell a patient they are going to have to receive they are taken aback and anxious, but they are remarkably tolerated, "he said of the shots.In the study, patients received one of four treatments: trade name Avastin or Lucentis every four weeks, or trade name Avastin or Lucentis on a variable depending on the response to the drug for one year plans.Vision improvement was almost identical for both drug monthly given, and no differences were seen in how many got significantly better or worse. The drugs are less likely to inject on an as-needed basis, no differences between the drugs but produced less vision improvement than monthly dosage did.Approximately 24% of the trade name Avastin users and 19% of the on Lucentis had a serious adverse reaction, usually a necessity for hospitalization. The study is too small to clear security questions to answer, and these differences require more study, researchers said.A statement by a spokesman for trade name Avastin from Genentech said that advantage for the eye disease evidence would take "considerable resources and years of clinical development", and that the best interests of patients are better served by exploring new medicines.Although Genentech both drugs does not sell, PDL BioPharma Inc. gets royalties on Lucentis, and Novartis AG has exclusive rights to the outside of the US

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