Provinces should pay for high-cost eye drug: review

A federal body that reviews medications has recommended that a high-cost drug for treating one form of the leading cause of vision loss among older Canadians be covered by provincial insurance plans.

The Common Drug Review recommended Friday that provincial drug plans cover the drug Lucentis for the wet form of age-related macular degeneration, but limit coverage to 15 vials "to treat the better-seeing eye."

The CDR said Lucentis has been shown to be effective in stabilizing and improving sight in people with wet macular degeneration.

But Lucentis is expensive: it costs about $1,600 per injection and would be given about once a month, often for an indefinite period. Each vial would provide enough Lucentis for six injections.

Doctors have been using a similar drug called Avastin to treat wet AMD that costs only a few hundred dollars per injection.

Avastin is approved in Canada for treating colorectal cancer, but doctors were using it off-label for AMD.