Blindsighted? Ruling condemned
Updated on 14 June 2007
The NHS drugs watchdog advises limited use of a drug which can prevent blindness while campaigners condemn the ruling.
As of earlier this week, patients in Scotland will be treated with either of two drugs available for Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Which affects a quarter of a million people in the UK.
But today, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued draft guidance saying no to one of the drugs, Macugen for people in England and Wales; and limited use for for the other one called Lucentis.
NICE, the NHS drugs watchdog, has ruled that a new treatment called Lucentis should only be prescribed when the condition strikes a person's second eye.
Former Labour MP Alice Mahon, who suffers from AMD, was forced to pay for one treatment herself after funding was refused by her local Primary Care Trust.
Campaigners claim that by limiting treatment to just one in five patient, the NICE decision will condemn 20,000 a year to blindness, but the agency disputes this.
Nice said it is keen to hear from people with AMD and will take their views into account when they make a final decision in September.
