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One of the most exciting results of the trial showed that up to 40 percent of patients treated with LUCENTIS achieved vision of 20/40 or better. This is particular good news for those who were able to drive prior to an episode of wet AMD. There is hope that after treatment, many of them will be able to regain enough vision to return to driving.

Lucentis is injected into the eye on a monthly basis for best results. The average patient is expected to receive 5-7 injections in a year.

Avastin
Avastin was developed by Genentech to treat colon cancer. It uses the same antiangiogenic approach to stop the growth of blood vessels to the cancer tumor. Because it was available before Lucentis was approved, some eye doctors began to use smaller quantities of it in the eye. It has shown some good results and is significantly cheaper than Lucentis or Macugen. Use of Avastin for wet macular degeneration has become very common. Some doctors choose it exclusively; others treat with Lucentis and then switch to Avastin.

However, it has not undergone the rigorous clinical trials required for FDA approval for use in macular degeneration. For this reason, we don't really know the potential side effects or long term results. The National Eye Institute is about to embark on a clinical trial comparing Lucentis and Avastin and this will provide us with some answers.

Macugen
Macugen was the first antiangiogenic therapy to be approved by the FDA. It was shown to be effective in 70% of cases, but did not restore vision in any statistically significant amount. Because Lucentis is more effective in maintaining and restoring vision, Macugen is not used very often now. However, it may play a part in your treatment regimen.