VA Reinstates Use of Avastin, with Guidelines

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced it has reinstated bevicizumab (Avastin) as an option to treat wet AMD. The VA now will permit one patient dose per manufacturer's vial of Avastin. On Sept. 2, the VA said it would cease ophthalmic use of Avastin pending an internal investigation into infections in its facilities. The VA has determined that the adverse events were not related to the drug itself.

The Academy is unaware of any evidence indicating irregularity in the manufacturing of Avastin, or of an industry-wide phenomenon. Uniform guidelines for compounding medications, however, do not exist—particularly for microbiologic testing. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) encourages health-care professionals to report any adverse events, side effects or product quality problems related with the use of repackaged intravitreal injections of Avastin to the FDA's MedWatch Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting program.

If you have questions, contact the Academy's Governmental Affairs office at 202.737.6662.