Avastin®-Bevacizumab
Avastin has been used to treat wet age-related macular degeneration since May 2005. This drug was developed to treat colon cancer. Since it inhibits blood vessel growth similar to Lucentis, researchers started using it to treat wet macular degeneration.
Early studies suggest that treatment with Avastin, since it has a similar mechanism of action to Lucentis, provides similar benefits.1
Avastin costs between 50 and 100 dollars for the drug per treatment. The drug cost for Avastin is substantially less than the 2000 dollars per treatment for Lucentis.
Patient with 1 month of vision loss from Wet AMD before avastin treatment: Retinal swelling involves central vision which is 20/50.
Same patient after treatment with Avastin. Vision is now 20/30 and retinal swelling has resolved.
1 SHORT-TERM SAFETY AND EFFICACY OF INTRAVITREAL BEVACIZUMAB (AVASTIN) FOR NEOVASCULAR AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION. Retina. 26(5):495-511, May/June 2006. Authors: RICH, RYAN M. MD; ROSENFELD, PHILIP J. MD, PhD; PULIAFITO, CARMEN A. MD, MBA; DUBOVY, SANDER R. MD; DAVIS, JANET L. MD; FLYNN, HARRY W. Jr MD; GONZALEZ, SERAFIN PharmD; FEUER, WILLIAM J. MS; LIN, RICHARD C. MD, PhD; LALWANI, GEETA A. MD; NGUYEN, JACKIE K. MD; KUMAR, GAURAV BA
