The most common cause of blindness in the elderly is age-related macular degeneration, or AMD. In cases of “wet AMD,” abnormal blood vessels grow behind the retina and leak blood and fluid, resulting in rapid sight loss.

Two drugs, Avastin and Lucentis, are used by doctors to treat wet AMD; both are injected into the eye in a series of treatments. The drugs are in the same class and are made by the same company.

So what’s the difference between the two?

Some doctors and researchers say the only difference is cost. And that difference is a big one.

Lucentis costs $2,000 per injection, while Avastin is about $50.

But only Lucentis has been approved by the FDA specifically for the treatment of AMD. Avastin is a cancer drug that has been prescribed off-label to treat AMD. To date, Avastin hasn’t been evaluated in randomized controlled trials — though many retina specialists swear by it.

So, should you wait for further trials before choosing Avastin over Lucentis? Perhaps — but you’ll be waiting a while. Genentech, the maker of both drugs, is in no hurry to get FDA approval for Avastin to treat wet AMD, because such approval would hurt, not help, its profits.

The earliest we can expect side-by-side results is a couple of years from now. Dr. Daniel F. Martin, chairman of the Cole Eye Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, is undertaking a study funded by the National Eye Institute that should provide comparative results by 2011, according to Consumer Reports.

In the meantime, do your research and talk with your doctor before making a decision.

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Tags: avastin, lucentis

This entry was posted on Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 2:21 AM and is filed under money-saving tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.