SCOTTISH health bosses have approved a new drug that can help restore sight to some people with a common cause of blindness.
The Scottish Medicines Consortium has given approval for the drug Lucentis to treat some of the 2000 people a year diagnosed with a form of eye damage known as AMD.
And today the Royal National Institute of Blind People, RNIB, Scotland said the decision offered hope for hundreds of people who could benefit from the new drug.
Age-related Macular Degeneration, AMD, is one of the most common causes of sight loss. In one form, wet AMD, small blood vessels form at the back of the eye and leak, destroying the ability to see.
But the new drug, which is not effective in all cases, can halt progress of the disease. And in some patients, it has partially reversed damage already caused.
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