For patients, yesterday’s announcement was “like a child in a candy store,” said Duncan Williams, with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.
“It lets people live in their homes and communities,” said Williams.
The CNIB has lobbied the government to cover Lucentis ever since the drug was approved by Health Canada in 2007.
“We’ve learned that vision loss costs Nova Scotians $990 million a year. Vision loss is not life ending but it is life altering … It has a huge emotional impact on the individual and their families,” he said.
Williams added the drug treatment will change the lives of the 800 patients who will benefit next year.
– with files from The Canadian Press
