Word: amd
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Doctors knew Genentech was onto something when early results came in from drug trials on Lucentis. Something so big, in fact, that patients who heard about it were desperate to get the wonder drug - the most effective treatment yet against wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the severe form of a chronic eye disease affecting 1.7 million Americans and a leading cause of blindness in the country...
...good news, then, that Lucentis will likely get its FDA stamp of approval this week. Until now no approved treatment has improved sight in patients with AMD so well. Although Lucentis can't repair the irreversible retina damage that occurs when AMD has gone untreated, it prevents the blood-vessel leakage in the back of the eye that causes damage in the first place, leaving patients with distorted, wavy vision, and eventually a gap in the center of their vision. Up to 40% (depending on the dosage) of those in Lucentis trials improved their eyesight by at least three lines...
...When Lucentis is approved, it is doubtful Americans will continue to use Avastin for AMD - even though the cheaper drug has worked so well that some 30 states now cover it for macular-degeneration treatment, says Rosenfeld. Doctors predict patients will go for the drug that has the FDA imprimatur, as long as insurance companies pick up the higher cost. Doctors too will most likely turn to the more expensive drug. "Let's just say there's a bad outcome," says Dr. John Sorenson, an AMD expert in New York City. "You can already hear the lawyers say, 'Doctor...
...lucrative deal with Merck & Co., the US’s second-largest drug provider. Pfeiffer Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Robert R. Rando’s research has paved the way for the manufacturing of drugs that might combat the progression of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common version of AMD which causes vision loss in up to eight million American elderly a year. Merck will pay an initial $3 million, along with later fees for further milestones in the development and royalties on resulting products, in exchange for the exclusive intellectual property rights...
TIME Where will AMD be in a year...