A drug called Lucentis can help people experiencing diabetic macular edema, which leads to loss of eyesight, according to a recent article from the New York Times.
Approximately one million Americans suffer from the condition and that number is expected rise as the number of people with the disease increases.
Nearly half of the people treated with the drug and had standard laser surgery as part of a government-sponsored clinical trial, showed significant improvement in sight. In fact, they were able to read two lines further down on the eye chart after just a year. In comparison, only 30% of people with laser therapy alone reported improvement.
The drug is not currently approved to treat macular edema, but is approved for another eye-related condition. If the drug received approval for macular edema, insurers are more likely to pay for it to treat this diabetes-related condition.
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