A new drug has been identified, and has been found to prevent vision loss. The drug known as Lucentis (ranibizumab) could also help people regain some part of their vision.
The miracle drug, Lucentis (ranibizumab) is actually used to treat age-related macular degeneration. Ophthalmologists also found that the drug Lucentis improves one’s sight for periods extending to two years in patients suffering from this disorder. Lucentis (ranzibizumab) is currently being appraised by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
A study that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that the drug can prevent vision loss in around nine out of ten patients. Approximately a third of those who were receiving Lucentis, also noticed considerable improvement in their sight.
The study involved 716 patients, who were divided into a control group; a group given 0.3mg of Lucentis and a group given 0.5mg of the same drug.
On the whole, 94% of those given the drug Lucentis had less degeneration, which meant that they “lost’ fewer than 15 of the letters they could read on an eye chart after treatments. This was compared with 62% of the group given placebo injections.
This meant that they could read an additional three lines or 15 more letters on an eye chart after a course of treatments. The authors of this study said that the benefits in visual acuity were still there after two years.
“These results show that the drug is just as good as we thought it was going to be,” said Steve Winyard, head of campaigns at the Royal National Institute for the Blind.