For those 200,000 AMD patients within an average year in US, the most effective treatment that approved by FDA is Lucentis. It brings hope to wet AMD patients by stopping and sometimes reversing vision loss, which is a huge breakthrough. Yet another drug that is similar to Lucentis is also under wide discussion, which is named Avastin. But Avastin is much cheaper than Lucentis, so that many doctors recommend Avastin for low-income individuals.
However, Avastin has not received FDA approval for ophthalmic uses. Based on safety issues, Genentech also restricts the sale of Avastin to compounding pharmacies for ocular uses. Both Lucentis and Avastin are owned by this company. Since the FDA has expressed no concern about the Avastin’s off label uses for AMD, many eye doctors argue that Genentech should allow Avastin to be directly sold to both physicians and compounding pharmacies. If only physicians have access to Avastin, doctors at the American Academy of Ophthalmology protest that many lower income people will be deprived of this sight-saving drug. The fact is that Lucentis cost an average of $2,000, while Avastin only needs $150.
During the widely off-label uses of Avastin, this treatment has not been proved to be as effective as Lucentis, or even more effective. No clinical study has made a comparison between the two AMD treatments. The most concern is their price discrepancy. Even if Medicare and other health insurance plans offset parts of the Lucentis expense, it is still much more expensive than Avastin. For example, patients with Medicare may only need to pay a 20% of co-payment for Lucentis, which equals about $400.
Genentech has given explanations about its different policies of the two drugs. Genentech officials say that the high price of Lucentis comes from its special development and its considerable expense of clinical trials. Lucentis is administered in the form of smaller molecules, which are more effective in controlling abnormal blood vessels. The company also claims that they will not conduct new trials for Avastin, since Lucentis has already got FDA approval and is a promising AMD solution. The good news may be that the US government is likely to fund the comparison between Lucentis and Avastin.
While the initial use of Avastin for colon and other cancers was reported to arouse risks of stroke and heart attack, its use for macular degeneration has brought no negative side effects. Most of the doctors are positive about the Avastin’s long-term safety risks. Due to its low price, researchers encourage the use of Avastin. There are also concerns that Avastin may be unable to penetrate the eye’s retina effectively. The undergoing two-year NEI clinical trails may settle down all these controversies.
Article Source:http://vision.firmoo.com/eye-diseases/debate-on-lucentis-and-avastin.html
Vision Library is the information source in area of vision care, including eyeglasses, sunglasses, contact lenses, sports protective eyewear, vision error and diseases, vision surgery, ageing and kid’s vision etc., solely sponsored by Firmoo.com, an emerging online optical store. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/vision-articles/the-debate-on-lucentis-and-avastin-1310802.html
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Besides FDA-approved AMD treatments, there are still many investigational treatments that are under trial. These treatments are provided only if the patient acts as a volunteer to test their safety and effectiveness.
While Avastin has been used to treat colorectal cancer, it has not been approved to treat macular degeneration. Some ECPs only use Avastin in the form of off label. Studies show that Avastin brings positive results in AMD treatment. Like these FDA-approved treatments such as Lucentis and Macugen, Avastin also function by injection into the eye.
Another treatment aiming at stopping the abnormal blood vessel growth is named Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Trap-Eye. This treatment was reported to be as effective as Lucentis for wet AMD.
Retaane treats advanced macular degeneration by attacking enzymes, which allows abnormal blood vessel growth. Left untreated, enzymes will weaken the walls of retinal blood vessels. Retaane performs in a way that is quite different from most of those AMD treatments. It is deposited behind the eye alongside the sclera and will be replaced every six months.
By preventing abnormal blood vessel development, Combretastatin is indicated to slow or halt myopia AMD progression, which affects young people with some eye diseases. The company is still carrying out clinical studies to demonstrate that whether the treatment is effective for AMD on old people.
Encapsulated Cell Technology (ECT) is designed to maintain sustained release of genetically engineered cells, in order to reduce retinal damage. Radiation treatment such as X-rays is also used to deal with AMD, which is still under early clinical studies.
AMD can be treated in another particular way. Since AMD is associated with slow blood flow and capillary vessel damage caused by macro-proteins and fatty components, procedures that can remove these harmful substances are effective. One of such procedures is the RHED procedure, which is also under trials.
Injected into a vein in the arm, the ICG dye is used to detect the presence and location of neovascular vessels. The Feeder Vessel Therapy also uses a high speed camera to trace the dye during its progression into the abnormal vessels.
AMD patients always have central blind spots, so that doctors have invented a tiny, implanted device to magnify images onto the retina. This treatment is known as implantable telescope, which has received significant clinical trial results.
Another potential AMD treatment is Transpupillary Thermotherapy, which combines an infrared laser and drug treatment. While its creator announces positive effects, some patients say it is dissatisfying.
Other researches focus on both artificial retinas and gene therapy, which are in early stages. Artificial retina can permanently recover the vision of AMD patients. Gene therapy is conceived to introduce specially encoded genes to alter AMD process.
For patients failed to get satisfied with all those moderate treatments. They can finally resort to an AMD surgery, which can remove the damaged tissues.
Article Source:http://vision.firmoo.com/eye-diseases/amd-treatments-trials-researches.html
Vision Library is the information source in area of vision care, including eyeglasses, sunglasses, contact lenses, sports protective eyewear, vision error and diseases, vision surgery, ageing and kid’s vision etc., solely sponsored by Firmoo.com, an emerging online optical store.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/vision-articles/amd-treatments-that-are-under-trials-and-researches-1301145.html