VA reinstates off-label Avastin for AMD but with one big caveat
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
Scrip has learnt that the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has lifted its ban on the off-label use of Roche's Avastin (bevacizumab) to treat wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) after finding that infections that had been linked to such use were not related to Avastin itself. However, the VA has restricted the use of Avastin in AMD to one patient dose per vial, in effect increasing the off-label cost more than ten-fold.