FDA Approves Lucentis (Ranibizumab Injection) for Treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group (RHHBY), today announced that Lucentis (ranibizumab injection) was approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for treatment of diabetic macular edema, an eye condition in people with diabetes that causes blurred vision, severe vision loss and sometimes blindness. Diabetes is now the leading cause of new cases of blindness in American adults1 and DME is estimated to affect more than 560,000 Americans with the disease.2 Lucentis is the first and only FDA-approved medicine for DME, a condition for which the standard of care has not changed significantly in more than 25 years. To date, the standard of care in the U.S. for DME has been laser surgery, which slows the rate of vision loss and helps stabilize vision, but has demonstrated only limited ability to restore lost vision.3