$2,000
Similarly, there is no financial incentive for Genentech to sell less Lucentis and more Avastin. When Avastin is used to treat cancer patients, it is often delivered at more than 100 times the dose needed for an eye injection, and a full course of Avastin treatment for cancer can cost up to $50,000 per patient. That means that when doctors prescribe Lucentis, their profit is $95 per dose. For each dose of Avastin they prescribe, the profit is only $29, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services. So there is an economic incentive for doctors to prescribe the more expensive drug. Lucentis-Injections, Costs and Side Effects. Lucentis is the trade name of Ranibizumab. Lucentis is the trade name of the drug Ranibizumab, which can be useful for people with diabetes who are losing their sight from diabetic macular oedema (DMO) or 'wet' age related macular degeneration (ARMD). It is specifically designed for the treatment of neovascular age-relate degeneration (AMD) and is administered in the form of an injection which can be monthly or three monthly. It is potentially useful for people suffering from that condition but also diabetics who are losing their sight from macular edema. Everyone would have switched to Lucentis except for one thing: cost. Genentech makes both Avastin and Lucentis. For cancer treatment, huge doses of Avastin are needed. The tiny dose needed for AMD costs only $50. A single dose of Lucentis costs $2,000. Medicare had little choice but to pay for Lucentis, as it was the only proven drug for AMD. April 29, 2011 -- Fifty-dollars worth of Avastin prevents blindness from age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and does it just as well as $2,000 worth of Lucentis, a federally funded clinical trial finds. The switch could also save patients $5 billion in insurance copayments, according to a new study in Health Affairs. Ranibizumab, more commonly known by its brand name Lucentis, is delivered as an injection to the eye and runs about $2,023 per dose. Many patients require up to 12 injections per year. That's why some doctors choose to prescribe the much cheaper drug Avastin (bevacizumab) instead, which costs around $55 per dose. That means that when doctors prescribe Lucentis, their profit is $95 per dose. For each dose of Avastin they prescribe, the profit is only $29, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services. So there is an economic incentive for doctors to prescribe the more expensive drug. LUCENTIS ® (ranibizumab injection) is a prescription medicine for the treatment of patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD), macular edema following retinal vein occlusion (RVO), and diabetic macular edema (DME). LUCENTIS ® (ranibizumab injection) is a prescription medicine that you may receive from your Retina Specialist. It was approved by the FDA in 2006. Medicare as of early 2010 provides a $50 reimbursement per injection when Avastin is used for macular degeneration treatments. In late 2009, eye doctors successfully lobbied to overturn a new Medicare directive that reduced reimbursements for Avastin from $50 to $7 per injection. Medicare's action temporarily forced eye doctors to use Lucentis instead of Avastin. And price is at the crux of this debate: Lucentis costs $2,000 per injection while Avastin is about $50. Moreover, patients must undergo a series of injections with both drugs. Although Medicare pays in either case, patients who lack insurance or have high co-payments can realize huge savings with Avastin.  The cost of Lucentis, a drug specifically formulated for the eye, is approximately $2,000 per intravitreal dose, while Avastin, formulated for intravenous use and available in larger quantities that can be compounded into smaller units, costs approximately $60 per intravitreal dose.  1 For wet macular degeneration, in which a cluster of leaky blood vessels forms in the eye, a doctor might prescribe injections into the eye with bevacizumab (brand name Avastin), a chemotherapy drug that is used off-label, or pegaptanib (brand name Macugen) or ranibizumab (brand name Lucentis). 1 And, according to Retinal Consultants of San Antonio, one treatment with Macugen costs about $1,250 -- or more than $21,000 for treatments every six weeks for two years. 2  Midwest Eye Care charges $2,700 for one treatment with Lucentis. In the U.S., the average retail price for Lucentis is more than $2,000. In the United Kingdom, it retails for about $1,100 per dose, according to The Washington Post. One of the main reasons that Lucentis costs more in the United States has to do with the way drug prices are negotiated. That means that when doctors prescribe Lucentis, their profit is $95 per dose. For each dose of Avastin they prescribe, the profit is only $29, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services. So there is an economic incentive for doctors to prescribe the more expensive drug.
http://www.businessinsider.com/price-difference-lucentis-and-avastin-2014-6 http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes-medication/lucentis.html http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/macular-degeneration/news/20110429/avastin-as-good-as-lucentis-for-amd-treatment http://www.businessinsider.com/price-difference-lucentis-and-avastin-2014-6 http://www.lucentis.com/information http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/lucentis-vs-avastin.htm http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/04/off-label-use-of-avastin-for-amd-is-cheaper-better/index.htm http://www.visioncareprofessional.com/emails/amdupdate/index.asp?issue=17 http://health.costhelper.com/macular-degeneration.html http://www.businessinsider.com/price-difference-lucentis-and-avastin-2014-6
cost of lucentis injection