A drug that prevents sight loss could also help people regain some vision, according to new research.
Lucentis (ranibizumab), which is used to treat wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), is currently being appraised by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
The drug will not receive its European licence until later this year or early next year, but has already been approved in the US.
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the drug can prevent vision loss in around nine out of 10 patients. Around a third of those receiving the drug also noticed improvement in their sight.
The study involved 716 patients, who were divided into a control group, a group given 0.3mg of the drug and a group given 0.5mg of the drug.
Overall, 94% of those given the drug had less degeneration, meaning they "lost" fewer than 15 of the letters they could read on an eye chart after treatments. This compared with 62.2% of patients given a placebo.
A quarter of those receiving 0.3mg of the drug and 33.8% of those receiving 0.5mg also experienced improvements in their sight, compared with 5% on the placebo.
This meant they could read an additional three lines or 15 or more letters on an eye chart after a course of treatments. The benefits in visual acuity were still there after two years, the authors said.
Steve Winyard, head of campaigns at the Royal National Institute for the Blind said the results were "very exciting". He added: "These results show that the drug is just as good as we thought it was going to be."
Wet AMD results in new blood vessels growing behind the retina, which causes bleeding and scarring.
