Able 2 UK

There's a drug called Macugen which was licensed back in May which helps sufferers of a condition called wet AMD (age-related macular degeneration) which is the cause of loss of eyesight in mostly the elderly and affects a quarter of a million people in the UK alone. The drug is effective and can give old people the chance to avoid blindness, but 90% of NHS Trusts are refusing to use their funds to prescribe it. Even when the drug has been funded the AMD Alliance have investigated that out of 450 patients who need the treatment only 36 have been fortunate to receive it. Some have even been told that they would have to wait before they turn blind until they can have the drug!

The young are also vulnerable to the wet form of AMD and the old folks over 65 are in danger of contracting the condition more than anyone else. If you have AMD the affects could be loss of central vision, your acknowledgment of colour may be screwed and worse still in as little as three months you could be as a blind as Stevie Wonder. The boffins are still trying to figure out the causes of AMD, but smoking, old age and family history are strong risks.

So, what the hell is so good about this £25,000 (per year) drug? Well, inside your eyes there's this stuff called VEGF (Vascular endothelial growth factor) which is a kind of protein which conjures up new blood vessels. Trouble is, when there's too much VEGF all hell breaks loose and there's a spread of blood vessels and leakage of fluids, both of which are factors of wet AMD.

Steve Winyard is the Head of Campaigns at the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) and the co-author of the report into why the NHS have refused so many patients Macugen. He said,
"This report confirms what we have long suspected and what wet AMD patients have been telling us - that PCTs are refusing to fund a licensed treatment, even though it could save patients' sight. Fifty people a day are being condemned to blindness - the actions of the PCTs are simply unacceptable. Health officials are only fooling themselves if they think they can save money by refusing to fund anti-VEGF treatments. The cost to the state of supporting someone with sight loss far outweighs the cost of treatment."

Another obstacle, which has been difficult to see (gettit? 'difficult to see?', oh please yourselves) is that the drug needs to be injected every 4-6 weeks. Until the NHS fork out the cash and the time for Macugen the sad fact is that suffers will have to close their eyes to the vital treatment which is already out there to cure the disease.