Drugs are better than Lasers for the Eye?

Jennifer Corbett Dooren of the Wall Street Journal has recently wrote that there is a drug that has been discovered to help cure the eventual blindness of newborns. Although this drug, Avastin, is normally used to stop the tumors of cancerous cells and tissues, it can also stop the clotting of blood into the eyes that cause newborn blindness.

Dr. Mintz-Hittner estimates there are about 3,000 to 4,000 cases of retinopathy of prematurity in the U.S. each year. The numbers are increasing as more premature babies survive.

This new product has been tested to be successful and is estimated to be only around $40. On the other hand, the other method available is called Lucentis. Babies who have taken this procedure are predicted that there will be more operations in the future. There are relatively high risks such as the lost of an entire eye. However, not only does Lucentis require multiple manditory operations, but also costs around $2500 per injection. Studies have shown that Avastin requires only one procedure. While this new product may very well be in the experimental stage still, it offers a great deal for those who encounter this problem in their premature babies and are relatively poor. New biomedical appliances such as Avastin prove that although we may not have invented a new solution to many health problems out there, we are still able to apply what we do have in different ways.