Drug companies threaten to block £12 treatment for sight loss

TWO drug companies are threatening to take the NHS to court over plans to offer patients cheap treatment to prevent blindness.

Research has found that a £12 drug is just as effective as injections that cost £800 for treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of sight loss.

However, health authorities which have drawn up plans to offer patients the cheaper option are facing a judicial review from the companies which market the more expensive drugs.

A treatment called Avastin – originally developed to treat cancer – has been found to be an effective treatment for wet AMD, one of the most aggressive forms of the eye condition.

Several areas have already prescribed the drug, with estimates that the NHS could save more than £500 million a year if all suitable patients were switched to it.

Under the policy, drawn up across north-east England and Cumbria, patients suffering from wet AMD will be given a choice of treatments, but alerted to the savings to the NHS if they accept the “preferred” cheaper drug.

The drug companies Bayer and Novartis, which market the only treatments licensed for wet AMD, the more expensive products Lucentis and Eylea, have threatened legal action against 12 NHS authorities planning to offer Avastin for eye conditions. The firms say the NHS policies breach a patient’s legal right to be treated with drugs backed by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice).

They have also suggested that elderly patients with eyesight problems may lack the cognitive capacity to make a fully informed decision about their treatment.

In a letter to Bayer, lawyers for the north-east Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGS) said the accusation was “grossly insulting” and “appears to suggest that elderly patients must be assumed to lack mental capacity or that patients with eye problems must also have cognitive defects”.

David Hambleton, who is leading the North East and North Cumbria CCG policy, said: “The choice between three clinically effective drugs should be one for NHS clinicians and patients to make together, not for drug companies.”

A spokesman for Bayer said that using “unlicensed medicines” instead of a licensed and Nice-approved option “runs the risk of setting a precedent that undermines the regulatory framework and NHS constitution”, and added that there are safety concerns with the intravitreal use of Avastin.

A spokesperson for Novartis said that the CCGS’ policy puts inappropriate pressure on clinicians and undermines their clinical judgment.