Lucentis Ranibizumab

Lucentis (ranibizumab) is a humanised recombinant monoclonal antibody fragment that is specific for all isoforms of human VEGF-A. By preventing binding of VEGF-A to its receptors, Lucentis reduces endothelial cell proliferation, neovascularisation and vascular leakage^1. It has been shown to maintain and in some cases improve visual acuity in patients with the wet type of age-related macular degeneration (AMD)^2-3. In the MARINA and ANCHOR trials, 90 per cent of Lucentis treated patients maintained vision and at least
30 per cent of Lucentis treated patients gained three lines of vision at two years. ^2-3

Lucentis is an intravitreal injection designed to quickly and fully penetrate all layers of the retina. The recommended dosing regimen for Lucentis is 0.5 mg or 0.3 mg given once a month.

Lucentis is approved in Australia and is available on PBS Authority Prescription for subfoveal neovascular AMD.

Contact your Novartis Pharmaceuticals Australia account manager for further details.

References:
1. Lucentis Product Information.
2. Rosenfeld PJ, Brown DM, Heier JS et al. Ranibizumab for neovascular age-related macular degeneration. N Eng J Med 2006;355(14):1419-1431.
3. Brown DM, Michels M, Kaiser PK et al. Ranibizumab versus verteporfin PDT for neovascular AMD: two year results of the ANCHOR study. Ophthalmology 2009;116(1):57-65.