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much cheaper drug has proved just as good as a $2,000 monthly shot at treating a common eye disorder that can lead to blindness, a long-awaited study has found. It also shows that patients can be treated less often, sparing them a lot of pain and expense.
The results are expected to lead many doctors and patients to turn away from the pricier Lucentis and instead use $50 shots of Avastin for an age-related condition called wet macular degeneration.
Vision improvement after one year was the same for those given Avastin or Lucentis, the 1,200-patient study found.
The results are a blow to Roche's Genentech unit, which sells both medicines. Avastin (ah-VAS-tin) is a cancer drug that doctors have used for many years to treat the eye disease even though it is not approved for that purpose. Genentech had been developing Lucentis (loo-SEN-tis) specifically for the eye disease and won approval for it in 2006. A company spokesman said Thursday that the company had no plans to seek approval to sell Avastin for eye use or to lower the price of Lucentis.
Yet the results are a boon for patients and insurers — mostly Medicare — because nothing prevents use of the cheaper Avastin, eye specialists said. Doctors who use it for the eye disease must get a pharmacist to prepare lower doses for injection rather than the intravenous way it's used for cancer.
"It's always good news for patients when there are more than one option for a condition. It's good news for the country. Now we have potential for significant savings at a time when the cost of health care is skyrocketing," said Dr. Paul Sternberg, chairman of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute.
The results are expected to lead many doctors and patients to turn away from the pricier Lucentis and instead use $50 shots of Avastin for an age-related condition called wet macular degeneration.
Vision improvement after one year was the same for those given Avastin or Lucentis, the 1,200-patient study found.
The results are a blow to Roche's Genentech unit, which sells both medicines. Avastin (ah-VAS-tin) is a cancer drug that doctors have used for many years to treat the eye disease even though it is not approved for that purpose. Genentech had been developing Lucentis (loo-SEN-tis) specifically for the eye disease and won approval for it in 2006. A company spokesman said Thursday that the company had no plans to seek approval to sell Avastin for eye use or to lower the price of Lucentis.
Yet the results are a boon for patients and insurers — mostly Medicare — because nothing prevents use of the cheaper Avastin, eye specialists said. Doctors who use it for the eye disease must get a pharmacist to prepare lower doses for injection rather than the intravenous way it's used for cancer.
"It's always good news for patients when there are more than one option for a condition. It's good news for the country. Now we have potential for significant savings at a time when the cost of health care is skyrocketing," said Dr. Paul Sternberg, chairman of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute.
