Thousands of people across Sussex with a devastating eye disease could have their sight saved by a treatment finally approved for use by the NHS.

The Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) welcomed the news that health watchdog the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) will approve Lucentis for the treatment of wet agerelated macular degeneration (AMD).

Nice will today publish a recommendation that the drug should be used to treat wet AMD.

Patients like 77-year-old Colin Valder, from Brighton, who has wet AMD in his right eye and the untreatable dry AMD in his second eye, could benefit if the recommendation is taken up by Brighton and Hove City Primary Care Trust (PCT).

He said: "This is great news for thousands of patients like me who are fighting a long and hard battle to get sight saving treatment on the NHS.

"It is criminal that people are being left to go blind, despite the billions that have been pumped into the health service.

"Treatments are available but only a handful of PCTs are giving them to patients.

"It makes me angry to think people are being penalised because of their postcode.

"Time is running out to save my sight and I hope the PCT changes its policy before it is too late."

If Brighton and Hove City PCT adopts Nice's proposal, Mr Valder will receive treatment.

The news follows a decision by West Sussex PCT last week to use the cheaper drug Avastin to treat wet AMD.

Avastin is widely used privately to treat AMD but it is not generally available on the NHS, where it is only licensed for the treatment of bowel cancer.

However, some PCTs across the country have gone ahead and used Avastin to treat AMD because it is believed to be as effective as other treatments but significantly cheaper.

Today's announcement means all patients with wet AMD should be treated with Lucentis, effectively ending the postcode lottery.

Steve Winyard, head of campaigns at the RNIB, said: "Today we move a step closer towards achieving justice for the 19,000 patients in England and Wales who develop wet AMD each year.

"It is a devastating condition that can rob someone of their sight in as little as three months if left untreated.

"PCTs do not need to wait for final guidance before choosing to provide the treatment to desperate patients in their care.

"By acting now, they can play a vital part in ending a national scandal which has seen thousands of patients needlessly robbed of their sight."

AMD is the main cause of blindness in Britain. It destroys the macula, the central region of the retina, and leads to progressive loss of sight.

Of the two forms of the condition, dry AMD is the most common. Wet AMD is more aggressive and accounts for about 90 per cent of blindness caused by the condition.

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