A "life-changing" drug will be offered to premature babies by the NHS in England to help save their sight. The treatment - called ranibizumab - can be given to infants who suffer from an eye condition that affects blood vessels in the retina but are too unwell or fragile to undergo traditional laser surgery.
The disease, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), creates damaging scar tissue and causes blindness. Ranibizumab is already routinely used in adults with wet age-related macular degeneration, and works by temporarily stopping the action of a growth protein called vascular endothelial growth factor, which reduces or reverses the growth of the abnormal blood vessels.
Babies are routinely screened for the condition by the NHS. Around 20 patients a year will benefit, it is estimated.
The mum of one baby who had the treatment said her daughter's sight is now "normal" having "avoided almost certain blindness".
Millie Swan, from Surrey, was born prematurely at 23 weeks, spent five months in hospital and developed retinopathy of prematurity. When she was three months old the condition became so severe in her left eye that she needed urgent treatment to save her sight.
Millie's mother Natalie said: "She was meant to have laser treatment, which is the usual way to treat this condition, but when they gave her the sedative to prepare her for the procedure she didn't tolerate it at all so they couldn't start the procedure.
"At this point we thought she would end up blind in her left eye but we were lucky enough to get offered this new treatment, which was an injection into the eye. Millie will be three years old in July and her eyesight is now normal and she enjoys looking at the pictures in her books and aeroplanes in the sky.
"We feel so lucky that she got to have this procedure and avoided almost certain blindness in that eye - and now other families will be able to benefit from it too."
NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said: "The impacts of vision loss can be absolutely devastating, particularly for children and young people, so it's fantastic that this treatment will now give families across the country another life-changing option to help save their child's precious sight.
"The national roll-out of this lifeline treatment for babies who are too poorly to undergo laser therapy is a vital step forward in preventing avoidable vision loss, and as we prepare to mark our 75th anniversary this is another example of how the NHS continues to ensure that the latest and most effective treatments are available for everyone who needs them."
