Sight-drug court battle adjourned

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Three patients fighting for NHS-funded treatment to save their sight have had their High Court case adjourned.

The judicial review followed a ruling by Warwickshire Primary Care Trust not to fund the drug Lucentis for wet age-related macular degeneration.

Mr Justice Forbes delayed the case until 28 July following the outcome of Derbyshire PCT's appeal over the latest draft guidance on the drug's use.

The RNIB said it was very disappointed as "time was of the essence".

Success for the trio could mean more patients in England being able to have the drug Lucentis, said the RNIB, which is backing the case.

'Long battle'

Wet-AMD is the most common cause of blindness in the UK, and treatment costs a maximum of £21,000 over a two-year period.

Warwickshire PCT said it had to make "difficult decisions" about which expensive drugs to make available.

Its policy is to fund the treatment in "exceptional" cases and it says the three patients, Ray Liggins, 77, Jean Middleton, 78 and Patricia Meadows, 65, do not come under this category.

RNIB's head of campaigns, Steve Winyard, said the three patients had "all been through a long enough battle already".

"Wet AMD can rob you of your sight in as little as three months, so time is of the essence," he said.

Reimbursement scheme

Derbyshire PCT is challenging draft guidance issued by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) in England in April.

This guidance says Lucentis should be funded in appropriate cases on the basis that PCTs pay for the first 14 injections and the manufacturer, Novartis, reimburses the cost of any subsequent treatment.

At the High Court it was revealed Novartis had responded to a call by Mr Justice Forbes for it to take action.

Novartis said in a letter it may be ready to make treatment available in Warwickshire under the reimbursement scheme, before Nice's "final guidance", if certain conditions were met.

The drug has already been available on the NHS in Scotland for more than a year, while in Wales and Northern Ireland extra funding has been promised to pay for all suitable patients to receive the drug.