NHS victory over eye drug could have significant impact on UK ophthalmology sales, says analyst

A High Court case win by 12 National Health Service (NHS) Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in favor of prescribing the significantly cheaper anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF), Avastin (bevacizumab), over Novartis’ (NOVN: VX) and Bayer’s (BAYN: DE) licensed anti-VEGF eye drugs has import implications, says analyst.

According to Edit Kovalcsik, managing pharma analyst at data and analytics firm GlobalData: “Wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is effectively managed by anti-VEGF therapies; however, approved medications, Roche/Novartis’ Lucentis [ranibizumab] and Regeneron/Bayer’s Eylea [aflibercept], are highly priced, reaching around £5,000 [$6,550] per patient annually. Avastin, also Roche’s anti-VEGF, approved for metastatic colorectal cancer but not for ophthalmology, is widely used off-label for wet AMD, particularly in the US.

“Avastin is a much cheaper alternative, costing only a small fraction of the approved drugs for wet AMD treatment, less than £400 a year per patient; however, the UK government ruled out the routine use of Avastin in 2015.