FDA Approves Macular Degeneration Injection
Genentech announced that the FDA has approved ranibizumab injection (Lucentis®), the first syringe prefilled with an anti-VEGF medicine approved to treat two eye conditions.
Like the Lucentis 0.5 mg vial, the 0.5 mg prefilled syringe (PFS) is approved to treat people with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and macular edema after retinal vein occlusion (RVO). Lucentis was approved to treat wet AMD in 2006.
The Lucentis PFS allows physicians to eliminate several steps in the preparation and administration process, including disinfecting the vial, attaching a filter needle, drawing the medicine from the vial using the needle, removing the filter needle from the syringe, and replacing with an injection needle. With the Lucentis PFS, physicians attach the injection needle to the syringe and adjust the dose prior to administration.
The Lucentis 0.5 mg PFS is expected to be available in early 2017.—Amanda Del Signore
