Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Medicare expansion for Visudyne becomes official:

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040401/to192_1.html

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QLT Announces New Medicare Policy Takes Effect - Expanding Reimbursement For Visudyne(R)

Treatment is Covered for Certain Patients with Specific Forms of Occult and Minimally Classic AMD, the Leading Cause of Blindness in People Over the Age of 50

VANCOUVER, April 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - QLT Inc. (NASDAQ: QLTI) and Novartis Ophthalmics, the eye health unit of Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) announced today that on April 1, 2004 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will implement its decision to provide coverage for ocular photodynamic therapy (OPT) with Visudyne® (verteporfin) to patients with age- related macular degeneration (AMD) who have occult and minimally classic lesions that are four disc areas or less in size and show evidence of recent disease progression.

Implementation of the CMS ruling immediately expands access to OPT to include the majority [60-65%, according to my estimate in #msg-2244539] of patients with all forms of "wet" AMD, the more severe and aggressive form of the disease. Medicare already offers coverage for OPT in AMD patients with predominantly classic lesions.
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