Alternative Treatment for Diabetic Retinopathy

A clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health has found that the drug ranibizumab (Lucentis) is highly effective in treating proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), a complication of diabetes that damages blood vessels in the light-sensitive retina in the back of the eye. Lucentis is used to treat wet macular degeneration as well as diabetic macula edema. The study found the treatment no less effective than the laser therapy which currently is the standard treatment for PDR.

Read the press release.

Read the study.

In a RPB-supported commentary, Timothy W. Olsen, MD, notes that "this important study [...] represents a major step forward for patients with PDR by providing the ophthalmologists who manage their retinal disease with new options." But he adds a cautionary note. 

Read the commentary.

November 17, 2015