'Cruel' postcode lottery is over as NICE makes blindness drug widely available

Thousands who are at risk of going blind will be eligible for sight-saving drugs after a U-turn by the Health Service's rationing body.

Wet age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness.

But previously, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence suggested that the drug Lucentis should only be given to those already blind in one eye.

The latest guidance says it can be offered to most of those with the condition  -  even if it is their first eye that is affected.

The announcement follows a two-and-a-half year battle by medical charities. 

Andrew Dillon , Chief Executive of NICE apologised for the delay in reaching a final decision.

'I am genuinely sorry that it has taken us so long to get to this point,' he told BBC's Today Programme.

But he added pointedly: 'Lessons could be learned by everybody involved.'

Steve Winyard, of the Royal National Institute of Blind People, said: 'It is a victory for thousands.

'Finally the torment faced by elderly people forced to either spend their life savings on private treatment or go blind, is over.'

There are 26,000 new cases of wet AMD each year in the UK.

It occurs when blood vessels grow in the eye behind the retina, leaking fluid and blood which causes scarring.

Lucentis targets vascular endothelial growth factor, a protein involved in the formation of blood vessels.

Those who have the condition can lose their sight in fewer than three months if it is not treated promptly.

NICE's two-year appraisal is thought to have cost the sight of 20,000.

In December, the rationing body dropped one of the most controversial aspects of its draft guidance.

It had suggested patients would need to lose sight in one eye before the other could be treated.

The latest guidance rejects the use of another drug, Macugen, on the NHS in England and Wales.

Patients in Scotland already get the treatment. It also says the NHS will only fund 14 injections  -  which cost about £10,700.

The cost of any more must be met by the manufacturer Novartis.

PCTs are normally give three months to implement Nice's guidance.

Mr Winyard added: 'NICE's guidance will finally bring an end to a cruel postcode lottery.

'There is now nowhere left for PCTs to hide  -  we want them to implement NICE guidance immediately.'

The ruling has thrown a lifeline to patients such as 82-year-old Joan Armstrong, from Wandsworth, South London, whose requests for funding have been refused four times by her PCT.

'I'm so happy,' she said.

'I have been fighting to get treatment for over a year-and-a-half, so this is the best news I've had since I started to lose my sight.'

Tom Bremridge, chief executive of the Macular Disease Society, said: 'Thousands of patients with the wet type of macular degeneration, who are at grave risk of losing their precious, remaining sight quite suddenly, have prayed for this day to arrive.

' 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.'