On August 10, 2012, Lucentis® (ranibizumab injection) was approved for the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME), an eye condition that causes blurred vision, severe vision loss and sometimes blindness.
Lucentis is only FDA-approved medicine shown to rapidly and significantly improve vision loss from DME and is the first major treatment advancement for the disease in more than 25 years. More patients who received Lucentis 0.3mg were able to read at least three additional lines (15 letters) on the eye chart after 24 months of treatment: RIDE: 34 percent, 0.3 mg versus 12 percent, control; RISE: 45 percent, 0.3 mg versus 18.1 percent, control (primary endpoint).