However Lucentis is not the only drug in development that can treat wet AMD. Genentech's Avastin, a drug commonly used to treat colon cancer could potentially reduce blindness in these patients as effectively as Lucentis but at a much lower cost.
Lucentis may require more injections than Avastin as the molecules that form the drug are much smaller in size, possibly making it more expensive to manufacture. No direct comparison has yet been made between the two drugs.
In the phase III trials approximately 95% of patients treated with Lucentis maintained or improved vision at one year. The improvement in vision among patients treated with Lucentis in the study was still maintained after two years.
“The results of these Lucentis studies have changed the way we approach the treatment of wet AMD by demonstrating, for the first time, improvements in vision in more than one-third of patients treated,” said David Brown, retina specialist at Vitreoretinal Consultants, The Methodist Hospital in Texas.
Based on the studies, Lucentis was granted FDA approval in June 2006.
Lucentis was specifically developed for intraocular use in the eye to treat the underlying cause of wet AMD by targeting the molecular pathway that controls the formation of new blood vessels.