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Cost of line of vision in AMD supports need for solutions, surgeon says
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KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. — As the trend in age-related macular degeneration treatments moves more toward repeated medical interventions, treatments are becoming more costly and are creating problems for physicians, according to a surgeon speaking here.
"Clearly we have a problem," said William E. Smiddy, MD, during Bascom Palmer Eye Institute's Angiogenesis 2007 meeting. "It's starting to hit home in the MD's pockets."
Dr. Smiddy quantified the relative costs of new AMD therapies in contrast with the vision saved by each, resulting in the relative cost of each line of vision saved. But he warned the analysis was not a "faultless" mathematical process.
Dr. Smiddy found the following costs for each line of vision saved per year lived after each treatment: $77 for laser, $448 for photodynamic therapy, $1,248 for Macugen (pegaptanib sodium, OSI/Pfizer) and $687 for Lucentis (ranibizumab, Genentech).
He noted that he could not equate Avastin (bevacizumab, Genentech) with these other drugs due to the lack of regulated studies, but he estimated it to cost about $60 per line of vision saved per year.
Unfortunately, Dr. Smiddy said, costs seem to be on the rise with no end in sight. He said physicians must think of solutions such as an endpoint for therapy, maintenance therapies, alternative therapies or innovative ideas like cost shifting.
"Right now there is a paralysis of solutions," he said. "There's a problem here and if we don't fix it, the government probably will in a way we won't like."