Clearly a Need

Local News

Clearly a need

By Cara Lovell

A wonder drug which could treat serious eye disease and improve quality of life is being denied to patients, according to a Redhill doctor.

Consultant ophthalmologist Dinesh Verma is campaigning for the wider use of new drug Macugen, used to treat the wet form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Mr Verma, from i4vision in Clarendon Road, can only offer Macugen privately, at around £1,000 per injection, because it is yet to be approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). Although it has been licensed for use on compassionate grounds in Europe and the UK, until it is approved by NICE primary care trusts (PCTs) will not fund it, although they could supply it on a case by case basis.

He said: "Those who are treated with Macugen can retain their sight longer and a progression of the disease is halted or at least slowed down. If you can help maintain sight for a longer period, then it is of immense use. There is lots of evidence to suggest that improvement of sight improves quality of life and that is the critical thing."

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Mr Verma wants to offer the treatment at his clinic on the NHS but cannot until it is funded by PCTs and appropriate referral systems are set up. Under the current referral system patients can wait up to six to eight weeks to see a consultant, but for some this may be too late.

Mr Verma added: "If this develops right in the centre of vision it can lead to distortion of vision within a matter of two to three weeks. I feel if I was able to offer it to a much wider range of people who could not afford it at the moment, then the success rate would be even better."

Grandmother Stella Soden, 73, was treated with Macugen following a routine trip to the optician. If it was not for money left to her by her late husband, the drug would not have been an option.

She said: "The optician noticed something behind my left eye, and I thought uh-oh I've got a tumour'. She said to my son who was with me to take me to casualty, but I didn't want to do that. She phoned Dr Verma's office and got an appointment for me the next day. The following week I went to Harley Street and had an injection in the eye and the drug started working straight away."

Mrs Soden, from Nutley Lane, Reigate, has had two injections and her vision, which had been fuzzy, is returning to normal. She said: "If my husband had not died I would never have been able to afford this. It was so urgent, blood would have formed a crust and it would have damaged the retina. I do not know what I would have done if I had lost my sight."

A spokesman for East Surrey PCT said: "In recent years there have been examples of drugs which have not fulfilled the promises made for them on launch: for this reason it is wise to be cautious and to examine the evidence for safety, clinical effectiveness and cost."

12:11pmWednesday24thMay2006