FDA Approves Preloaded Syringe for Wet AMD

Lucentis treats wet age-related macular degeneration and macular edema after retinal vein occlusion.

The FDA recently approved a pre-filled syringe to administer ranibizumab (Lucentis PFS/Genentech-Roche).

The device will be available early next year.

Like the Lucentis 0.5mg vial, the syringe is approved to treat people with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and macular edema after retinal vein occlusion (RVO). Having a prefilled syringe should make it easier and safer for physicians to administer the eye injection, the company said in a news release.

An estimated 1.1 million people in the United States have wet AMD. The drug was approved to treat the condition in 2006.

It is a vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor designed to bind to and inhibit the protein that plays a role in angiogenesis and hyperpermeability of blood vessels.