An inexpensive drug has been shown to be as effective in treating wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) as a costlier treatment licensed for the purpose, and could save the UK’s NHS £84.5m annually, according to a new study.
For four years, a team of scientists and eye specialists from 23 hospitals and UK universities, including Queen’s University Belfast, University of Bristol, University of Liverpool, University of Southampton and University of Oxford, have been investigating whether Lucentis, which costs around £740 per injection (owned by Novartis) and Avastin, at around £60 per injection (owned by Roche) are equally effective in treating neovascular or wet AMD.
More than 600 people with wet AMD took part in the Ivan study, which is one of the largest carried out in the field of eye disease in the UK.
The first-year’s results showed there was no functional difference in the effects of both drugs and that their effects on preventing vision loss were similar.
The study also investigated whether treatment as needed is as effective as monthly treatment, and revealed that giving the drugs as needed, compared with regularly every month, resulted in almost identical levels of vision.
Professor Usha Chakravarthy of Queen’s University Belfast’s Centre for Vision and Vascular Science, who led the research study team, said: ‘The Ivan results at the end of the first year show that Lucentis and Avastin have similar effectiveness. Regardless of the drug received, or treating monthly or as needed, sight in the affected eye improved by between one and two lines on a standard eye test.’
Avastin is currently licensed for use in treating five different types of cancer, including cancer of the bowel and breast, but not for wet AMD.
The National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) programme funded the Ivan study. Belfast Health and Social Care Trust sponsored the research.
The one-year results were reported at an international research meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The findings will also appear online in the journal Ophthalmology.
The Ivan study will continue to follow participants to two years. A more detailed analysis will be presented when the two-year time point is reached.