Wagner Macula & Retina Center Joins The Academy of Ophthalmology To Take Action on Compounding

HAMPTON, Va. - July 3, 2013 - PRLog -- Wagner Macula & Retina Center has joined the Academy of Ophthalmology in taking action to help change compounding legislation.   The legislation, as it stands, could prevent a patient’s access to compound products.   Without these products, patients could experience significant vision loss or blindness.
    The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions has passed bipartisan legislation (S. 959) that tightens regulations on compounding pharmacies. The Senate legislation would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration new oversight authority over large compounding manufacturers, which are defined as pharmacies that compound sterile products for out-of-state distribution without prescriptions or that repackage or pool sterile drugs. While the Academy of Ophthalmology has worked closely with lawmakers to educate them about the importance of maintaining access to safely compounded products for office use, S. 959 creates barriers that must be removed. As written, the bill would create a national patient-prescription requirement for compounded biologics (e.g., bevacizumab) as well as antibiotics if they are compounded variations of FDA-approved products made from bulk substances. Impeding access to these compounds may cause patients to experience significant vision loss or blindness.
States Alan Wagner, MD, FACS “We ask that the bill be amended to protect our patients’ vision. It is imperative to maintain patients’ access to these sight-saving drugs by removing prescription requirements.”   Patients may experience significant vision loss or blindness if access to compounded products is impeded. In the case of many infections and other conditions, treatment delays of even a few hours can result in irreversible vision loss for the patient.
  Wagner Macula & Retina Center is dedicated to saving sight and enhancing lives.   They specialize in diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, eye tumors, and diagnosis and management of complex medical and surgical eye disease.  To learn more, log onto www.wagnerretina.com.