EU approves Novartis eye drug for new use

Swiss drugmaker Novartis’ eye drug Lucentis has been approved as a treatment for a further condition related to worsening eyesight by the European Union, adding to three other conditions for which it is already approved.

The Basel-based drugmaker said the European Commission had granted approval for Lucentis to treat patients with visual impairment due to choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to pathologic myopia.

Lucentis, which was first launched in 2006, is an important product for Novartis and had sales of $2.4 billion in 2012.

The drug is already approved in the EU to treat wet age-related macular degeneration, visual impairment due to diabetic macular edema, and visual impairment due to macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusion.

(Reporting by Caroline Copley; editing by Patrick Graham)

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Reuters