Health policies which favour using ranibizumab for treating eye disease in older people over safety concerns for a cheaper alternative should take account of a new Cochrane Review. The researchers looked at the results of studies which compared the safety of two drugs used for treating age-related macular degeneration, ranibizumab and bevacizumab.

Contrary to what was argued by some experts the review has found that the cheaper drug, bevacizumab, does not appear to increase deaths or serious side-effects compared with ranibizumab in people with neovascular age-related macular degeneration.