Cheaper Drugs for Age-Related Macular Degeneration Could Lead to Serious Eye Issues

Published on: 2012/06/20 - in Featured News

Queen’s University research that compared two eye drugs used to treat wet Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) has revealed that the cheaper medication could cause eye inflammation, with a potential blinding adverse effect.

“This is a very important finding,” said Sanjay Sharma (Ophthalmology and Epidemiology), a noted AMD and health policy researcher who practices at Kingston’s Hotel Dieu Hospital. “It is particularly important because many seniors need numerous injections so the risk is cumulative.”

Age-related macular degeneration usually affects older adults and results in a loss of vision in the center of the visual field due to damage to the retina. It occurs in “dry” and “wet” forms, with the latter being the more severe, and is a major cause of blindness and visual impairment in older adults. It is also linked to depression, accidental falls, and higher rates of nursing home admissions.

This Queen’s study reviewed cases of patients who received consecutive injections of either the more expensive or the cheaper version of the drug. It found that patients who received the cheaper drug experienced 12 times more risk of serious eye inflammation, with some of those patients losing their sight altogether.

According to the report, many provincial governments are considering the use of the cheaper drug to help curtail increasing costs. The more expensive medication retails for almost $1,800 while the cheaper version is more than one-tenth of that price.

For information about Dr. Sharma’s study and to view a video (embedded below), visit Insidermedicine’s article “Lucentis vs Avastin – the debate continues“.

Original photo: Randen Pederson