Charity fears more blindness after NHS drug ban

The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) has refused to make Lucentis available on the NHS for the treatment of diabetic macular oedema (DMO) – an eye condition affecting around 50,000 people with diabetes in the UK.

Diabetes UK said Lucentis is the first licensed treatment to improve vision and vision-related quality of life in people with sight loss due to DMO.

“This decision means more people will needlessly lose their sight,” a spokesman said. “We pressed hard to make this treatment available on the NHS and we will campaign for Nice to reconsider its decision.

“The cost of looking after people with sight loss far outweighs the cost of Lucentis treatment, let alone the human cost.

“We are very concerned local health services will use this decision as an excuse to stop treatment. We will monitor the situation across the country closely to ensure patients currently receiving Lucentis continue to do so as per the Nice guidance.

“We would also like to see urgent testing into alternative treatments for diabetic macular oedema.”

In final draft guidance issued today, Nice said it had not recommended ranibizumab (Lucentis, Novartis) for the treatment of DMO.

Commenting on the draft recommendations, Nice chief executive Sir Andrew Dillon said while it recommends lucentis for wet age-related macular degeneration, it had concluded it could not be seen as a cost-effective use of NHS funds compared with alternative treatments using lasers.

Nice said, however, it was not final guidance and the recommendations may change after an appeal. And it added the wider society costs referred to by Diabetes UK was not part of its remit.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: “We understand that Nice’s draft guidance may come as a disappointment to some people suffering from diabetes and their families. These are very difficult decisions to make and Nice only issues final guidance to the NHS on the use of a drug after very careful consideration of the evidence and wide consultation with stakeholders.”