Stroke :: Stroke risk from Genentech’s Lucentis for AMD

Genentech’s Lucentis, a recently approved drug to treat macular degeneration (AMD) in the elderly may increase a person’s risk of getting a stroke.

Genentech Inc. has sent a letter alerting eye doctors to the risk of stroke from Lucentis, its drug for treating age-related macular degeneration. The letter was a “proactive effort” to advise doctors that an interim analysis of a large 5,000-patient trial shows that 1.2 percent of patients given a 0.5-milligram dose of the drug suffered a stroke, compared with 0.3 percent of patients given a 0.3-mg dose, said spokeswoman Dawn Kalmar.

LUCENTIS? is the first antibody fragment (Fab) approved for ophthalmic use. It is also the first and only neovascular AMD treatment proven to improve vision in up to 40% of patients with neovascular AMD.

AMD is the most common cause of severe, central vision loss in older adults and can have a devastating impact on patients’ lives, resulting in the inability to read, recognize faces, and drive.1

An estimated 1.22 million people in the United States are affected by neovascular AMD.


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