FDA Approves Wider Use Visudyne

QLT, Inc. and Ciba Vision Corporation have been given priority-review status from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their application to expand therapy involving their blindness drug Visudyne to treatment of a range of eye diseases. Among other things, the companies are seeking permission to use Visudyne to treat certain conditions that can cause blindness in younger people. Currently, the two companies have US marketing approval for its use to treat only certain forms of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in people over 50 years old. For more information, visit www.fda.org.