http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. There is no cure for age-related macular degeneration, an eye disease that is the leading cause of vision loss and blindness in older Americans. Last year, the National Institutes of Health reported that two drugs injected into the eyes, Avastin and Lucentis, eased symptoms for sufferers, especially those in the advanced, "wet" stage of the disease, when blood vessels in the eye become swollen and leak fluids in the eye. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-drug-amd.html Ophthalmology Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:55:03 EST news290782458 New findings from a landmark clinical trial show that although certain gene variants may predict whether a person is likely to develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a potentially blinding eye disease that afflicts more than nine million Americans, these genes do not predict how patients will respond to Lucentis™ and Avastin, the two medications most widely used to treat the "wet" form of AMD. This new data from the Comparison of AMD Treatment Trials (CATT), published online in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, found no significant association between four gene variants and outcomes that measured the patients' responses to treatment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-major-clinical-trial-link-genetic.html Ophthalmology Tue, 12 Feb 2013 15:11:05 EST news279904119 The one year results from a study into whether two drug treatments (Lucentis and Avastin), are equally effective in treating neovascular or wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), have been reported today at an international research meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The findings will also appear online shortly in the leading journal Ophthalmology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-avastin-similar-effect-lucentis-age-related.html Ophthalmology Mon, 07 May 2012 09:28:03 EST news255601669 At two years, Avastin (bevacizumab) and Lucentis (ranibizumab injection), two widely used drugs to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD), improve vision when administered monthly or on an as needed basis, although greater improvements in vision were seen with monthly administration for this common, debilitating eye disease, according to researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-avastin-lucentis-equivalent-age-related-macular.html Ophthalmology Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:40:01 EST news255013861 (AP) -- Drug maker Novartis says it is taking legal action in Britain to make hospitals use an eye drug that costs 700 pounds ($1,130) per shot instead of a cheaper one that costs 60 pounds ($97). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-novartis-uk-hospitals-drug.html Medications Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:35:08 EST news254471681 (AP) -- Regulators on Friday approved Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s drug Eylea, an injection designed to treat a common cause of blindness in older people. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-fda-regeneron-eye-eylea.html Medications Sat, 19 Nov 2011 11:25:44 EST news240924324 Two major drug trials conclude there was little risk from a drug aimed at age-related macular degeneration. Yet a Mayo Clinic ophthalmologist began to note something concerning in some of her patients: an increase in pressure inside the eye. It led to a retrospective study and findings that will be presented at the American Academy of Ophthalmology in Orlando. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-mayo-clinic-side-effect-macular.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:40:56 EST news238668041 Researchers are reporting results from the first year of a two-year clinical trial that Avastin, a drug approved to treat some cancers and that is commonly used off-label to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD), is as effective as the Food and Drug Administration-approved drug Lucentis for the treatment of AMD. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-avastin-lucentis-equally-effective-amd.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 28 Apr 2011 12:45:49 EST news223213477