Eylea approved as diabetic retinopathy treatment

The FDA gave its approval for Eylea to be used in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy in patients with diabetic macular edema. Currently one third of diabetic patients over the age of 40 have some variation of the eye disease. Diabetic retinopathy with macular edema can cause abnormal blood vessels to form on the retina's surface. If these blood vessels leak or break, severe vision loss or blindness may be the result. Eylea is used to help stop the formation of these abnormal blood vessels. Eylea is administered as an intravitreal injection once a month for five months and then once every two months. Clinical trial results showed that those patients taking Eylea had significant improvement in the severity of their diabetic retinopathy compared to those who did not receive Eylea treatments.*