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NHS England to fund Luxturna treatment
NHS England will fund Luxturna gene therapy treatment for inherited retinal dystrophies starting in January 2020, according to a press release.
Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec-rzyl, Spark Therapeutics) will be available under a NICE-endorsed deal with Novartis, which holds the licensing rights to the drug outside of the United States.
“Loss of vision can have devastating effects, particularly for children and young people, but this truly life-changing treatment restores the sight of people with this rare and distressing condition,” NHS Chief Executive Simon Stevens said in the release. “For previous generations, curing blindness would literally have been seen as a ‘miracle.’ Now modern medicine is making that a reality for our patients.”
Luxturna treatment costs 613,410 pounds per patient at full price. The deal is expected to allow approximately 100 patients access under the NHS funding. It will initially be available at three national specialist centers in the U.K.