The Macular Disease Society (MDS) has welcomed the decision by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to make Lucentis (ranibizumab) available to patients with wet AMD in England.
Last year, the watchdog triggered an outcry when it announced that patients should only be treated once they had lost vision in one eye.
In June 2007, the RNIB spearheaded a campaign in response to this draft guidance. The campaign generated a response from over 13,000 people who backed the sight loss charity's demand that NICE rethink its proposals.
Lucentis is already available in Scotland. In June this year the Welsh Assembly announced it had put aside an additional £5m to treat AMD patients. A similar plan is also under way in Northern Ireland to fund the use of Lucentis.
The announcement will mean the end of the postcode lottery in England, according to Tom Bembridge, chief executive of MDS. 'Those responsible for NICE should be aware that during the cumbersome two-year review process 152 PCTs have individually had the power to decide whether to let patients go blind or to save their sight. The resulting stress and suffering has been cruel and unnecessary,' he said.
In a statement, Andrew Dillion, chief executive of NICE, said: 'Our guidance means that patients who are suitable for the treatment will have the same access to it, irrespective of where they live.'
The RNIB's head of campaigns, Steve Winyard, added: 'Finally the torment faced by elderly people forced to either spend their life savings on private treatment or go blind is over.'
NICE has made several stipulations in its ruling, including recommending the use of Lucentis only when the best possible visual acuity after correction with glasses of contact lenses is between 6/12 and 6/96.
The watchdog added that with Lucentis costing up to £10,000 for each eye treated, the cost of the drug beyond 14 injections will be met by the manufacturer.