Ranibizumab Found to Reverse Diabetes-Related Vision Loss

Ranibizumab (Lucentis), a prescription drug frequently used to treat age-related vision loss, can also improve vision in patients with diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema, a recent study indicated. While laser surgery is the standard treatment for advanced stages of diabetes-related vision loss, previous research has found that 30% of patients saw improvement in their vision.

The study, published in Ophthalmology, developed a population-based model that suggested that 0.3 mg of ranibizumab administered every 4 weeks to patients with diabetic macular edema could reduce the number of cases of vision impairment by 45% and the number of cases of legal blindness by 75%.

“We found that ranibizumab can save the sight of thousands of working- age individuals suffering from diabetic eye disease, as standard treatments, such as laser, are not as effective,” said lead author Rohit Varma, MD, MPH.

The researchers studied only Hispanic and non-Hispanic white adults, leading the study authors to suggest that this treatment may be able to restore vision to even more people than estimated.