First UK NHS patient treated with Iluvien: pSivida

pSivida (ASX:PVA) has announced that the first UK National Health Service (NHS) patient has been treated with Iluvien, less than three months after the product was recommended for reimbursement for a subset of diabetic macular edema (DME) patients.

pSivida’s licensee Alimera Sciences has shipped initial Iluvien orders to several UK NHS facilities, and the first patient was implanted on 10 January.

The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued a final guidance to the National Health Service on 27 November, recommending Iluvien for chronic DME patients who have already had cataract surgery and are considered insufficiently responsive to available therapies.

“We are encouraged by the speed with which Iluvien has been made available to NHS facilities,” pSivida CEO Dr Paul Ashton commented. “These recent Iluvien orders reflect the rapid implementation of the final guidance from [NICE].”

Alimera has also secured approval for Iluvien - which uses a micro-insert developed by pSivida - in Europe, but has suffered three separate knockbacks for its New Drug Applications in the US.

pSivida is independently seeking approvals for a product which uses the same micro-insert as Iluvien but is instead designed to treat posterior uveitis.

pSivida (ASX:PVA) shares were trading 11.59% higher at $5.20 as of around 2 pm on Friday.