Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. announced today that Lucentis (ranibizumab), the treatment for several major causes of vision loss, has been approved by Health Canada for the treatment of visual impairment due to choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to pathologic myopia (myopic CNV).

Myopic CNV (mCNV) develops in 5–10% of patients with pathologic myopia, which is a leading cause of blindness in many developed countries and second only to wet age- related macular degeneration in causing CNV. Abnormal blood vessels form beneath the retina of the eye and can rupture, leaking blood and fluid into the retina, causing vision loss. It is estimated that every day, almost five Canadians start experiencing vision loss from mCNV. In patients with untreated mCNV the long-term prognosis is poor, with approximately 90 per cent developing severe vision loss after five years. The condition is more than twice as prevalent in Asian populations as European populations.

For more details, go to: http://www.novartis.ca/cs/www.novartis.ca-v2/downloads/en/News/Lucentis_mCNV_Indication-English_Release.pdf