Lower-cost Avastin as effective as Lucentis in blinding eye disease, study says

Genentech Inc.’s Avastin — a cancer drug used off label and at lower cost by doctors to treat a potentially blinding eye disease — works as well after a year of treatment as the more-expensive Genentech drug approved for the disease, according to a government study.
In a highly anticipated study, the National Eye Institute said Thursday that the 1,185-patient study found that $50 monthly injections of Avastin into the eyes of patients with age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, were just as effective as $2,000-per-injection Lucentis. The study, however, also noted more serious side effects in patients using Avastin.