Eye jab hope for diabetics

DIABETICS in Scotland will become the first patients in the UK to be offered a new treatment which experts believe can help prevent blindness.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium yesterday approved the use of Lucentis, an eye injection containing the drug ranibizumab, which can stabilise vision and lead to significant improvements in sight for diabetic macula oedema (DMO) sufferers.

Today experts described the SMC’s decision as the “most significant development in the treatment of the eye condition in 25 years.”

DMO is one of the main causes of vision loss, although it only occurs in about one to three per cent of diabetics.