Alimera ships first Iluvien orders in UK

Atlanta-Alimera Sciences Inc. has begun shipping initial orders of Iluvien to several United Kingdom National Health Service (NHS) facilities.

Additionally, the first NHS patient received the implant for the treatment of chromic diabetic macular edema (DME) on Jan. 10.

In November, the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published final guidance for the implant, clearing the path to patient availability through the NHS. NICE requires clinical commission groups, NHS England, and local public health authorities to comply with the recommendations in the final guidance within 3 months of its date of publication.

The January orders of the implant indicate an early implementation of the NICE guidance in certain NHS facilities.

“We believe that the speed at which (the implant) has been made available at certain NHS facilities is indicative of the unmet need in this chronic DME patient population,” said Dan Myers, Alimera’s president and chief executive officer. “These patients now have a new, effective treatment available to them.”

“It is very exciting to be able to provide a patient with (the implant),” said Sudeshna Patra, consultant ophthalmic surgeon, who treated the first NHS patient with the implant at Whipps Cross University Hospital, London. “With (the implant) patients who have chronic DME insufficiently responsive to other therapies may now benefit from 36 months of sustained intravitreal steroid treatment. Iluvien has the potential to greatly improve the quality of life of these diabetic patients, who are at risk of severe sight impairment if left untreated.”

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