Cancer Drug Fights Macular Degeneration

Monday, March 27, 2006

March 27 -- Wet age-related macular degeneration. It's a condition that blinds more than 1 million people in the United States. That number is expected to double by the year 2020 as baby boomers get older. But now a cancer drug is giving patients their vision back.

Rosemary Kohler's life started out like a fairy tale, born inside an Italian castle. And she later met her prince charming, George. But a few years ago, this 81-year-old princess didn't think her story would have a happy ending. "I felt as if I'd lost at least 50 percent of my eyesight in about a month," she says.

Rosemary was diagnosed with wet age-related macular degeneration, or wet AMD. It's a condition where blood vessels in the eye grow and leak, resulting in severe vision loss. But a cancer drug called Avastin has given Rosemary much of her vision back. It appears to work better than any other wet AMD treatment.

Ophthalmologist Philip Rosenfeld, M.D., Ph.D., says, "Never before were we able to tell our patients that you could actually see better after therapy."

Dr. Rosenfeld, of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, Fla., says in a small study, patients saw vision improvements one week after the injection, when fluid in the retina flattens out.

"I've had patients go from being legally blind, 20/200 or worse to being able to see 20/20 after receiving the drug," Dr. Rosenfeld says.

Rosemary is now seeing about 20/40. "I really feel that it saves my life," she says. She's back to painting and hopes to live happily ever after.

Dr. Rosenfeld says getting to 20/20 vision isn't typical. He also adds Avastin is only for patients in the early stages of the disease and should be used within 6 months to 12 months from the time of onset. So far, more than 2,000 patients have been injected in the world with no major side effects.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Cynthia Birch
Bascom Palmer Eye Institute
The University of Miami
900 NW 17th Street
Miami, FL 33136
(305) 326-6190
(305) 326-6199
cbirch@med.miami.edu
http://bascompalmer.org/site/disease/disease_macular.asp

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