News & Views

Further to the release of the Device Safety Information issued on the 26 January, the MHRA released a national patient safety alert on the 1 February.

Faricimab is administered as an eye injection and is being recommended as an option for treating some adults with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or with diabetic macular oedema (DMO).

Glaucoma UK, the leading charity in the country for people living with glaucoma, has launched a new easy read guide to help patients put in their eye drops.

The College has been made aware that the manufacturers of Visudyne (verteporfin) are experiencing significant production delays and new stocks of Visudyne will not be available for the UK market until early 2022. Due to the low volume of circulating stock of Visudyne in the UK the Department of Health and Social Care has made the decision to divert the remaining stock to the national ophthalmic oncology centres.

The College had considered the recent reports of an increased incidence of Central Venous Sinus Thrombosis (CVST) in the UK and anecdotal cases of retinal vein occlusion (RVO) in the immediate period (28 days) subsequent to COVID vaccination. In view of this potential link, the College asks all UK ophthalmologists to consider reporting possible inoculation related cases to the MHRA using their reporting system.

The UK has been experiencing a shortage of mitomycin 2mg, 10mg, 20mg vials for intravenous administration and 40mg for intravesical administration since late October 2019. Since the recall of Kyowa Kirin product in early November 2019 all Trusts have had to rely on unlicensed imports. Kyowa Kirin have withdrawn their marketing authorisation for Mitomycin-C and have no immediate plans to return to market with this product range.

Allergan has contacted the RCOphth to provide a follow up regarding the hold on XEN 45. Allergan has reached out to regulatory agencies, and is working to initiate a voluntary recall of affected lots of XEN 45.

The College has been approached by a unit concerned about particulate matter discovered in syringes for intravitreal injections.

The College has been made aware of two ophthalmic units with a run of a small number of cases of fibrin membrane deposition in association with the Zeiss Lucia 611P intraocular lens.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, has written to health and social care staff in the NHS providing an update on EU Exit preparations.