Lucentis (ranibizumab injection) is FDA approved to treat myopic choroidal neovascularization. - Genentech/Roche

Genentech has announced that the FDA has approved Lucentis (ranibizumab injection) 0.5 mg for the treatment of patients with myopic choroidal neovascularization (mCNV), a complication of severe near-sightedness that can lead to blindness. Lucentis is the first FDA-approved anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy to treat mCNV in the U.S. This is the fifth FDA-approved indication for Lucentis since the medicine was launched in 2006.

This approval is based on the results of the Phase III RADIANCE study, which demonstrated that treatment with Lucentis provided superior visual acuity gains in people with mCNV compared to verteporfin photodynamic therapy (vPDT). At three months, average visual acuity gains for patients treated with Lucentis were more than 12 letters, compared to 1.4 letters for those treated with vPDT.