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Sunday, June 18, 2006
Genentech Seek UK Approval of Lucentis - But Not Avastin - For Wet MD
The UK's Guardian newspaper reports that drug company Genentech is seeking approval only for Lucentis, and not the cheaper drug Avastin, for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration in the UK.
For background on this story, these RetGen entries might be helpful:
Unless Avastin is approved in the UK by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) it will not be universally available within the NHS. But because Genentech declines to apply for a licence for this use of Avastin, Nice cannot consider it. In spite of the growing drugs bill of the NHS, it will appraise, and probably approve, Lucentis next year.
Although Nice's role is to look at cost-effectiveness, it says it cannot appraise a drug and pass it for use in the NHS unless the drug is referred to it by the Department of Health. The department says its hands are tied.
('Drugs firm blocks cheap blindness cure', The Guardian, 17 June 2006)
For background on this story, these RetGen entries might be helpful:
- Wet MD - Lucentis Vs Avastin, September 28 2005
- Avastin Study Presented at Ophthalmology Meeting, 20 October 2005
- Another Presentation on Avastin for Wet MD at AAO Meeting, 29 October 2005
- Lucentis Compares Well to Verteporfin PDT for Wet MD, 25 January 2006
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