Avastin: drug regulator clears way for use for wet AMD

The NHS was now in a better position to treat thousands of patients with wet age-related macular degeneration “for a fraction of the cost,” Julie Wood, chief executive of NHS Clinical Commissioners, has said.

Her statement came as the UK drug regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, changed its guidance to say that bevacizumab (Roche’s Avastin), when prescribed or used by a healthcare professional for ophthalmic conditions, “falls under the scope of ‘off-label’ use.”

The MHRA had previously stated that using the drug in this way was “unlicensed,” meaning that pharmacists and doctors were unsure whether they could prescribe and dispense the …