Life insurance: diabetes and sight-saving lifeline

Thousands of diabetes sufferers battling a rare eye disease could be offered a sight-saving lifeline.
This follows a U-turn by the NHS health watchdog, which now recommends that the monthly £742.17-plus-VAT injection be given in specific cases.
The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) watchdog sparked fury last year when it refused to make the Lucentis jab available on the NHS for the treatment of diabetic macular oedema (DMO).
NICE originally said it was too expensive but will now recommend use of the drug if the manufacturer agrees to keep costs down.
DMO affects around 50,000 people with diabetes in the UK. It happens when fluid leaks from tiny blood vessels in the eye to the middle of the retina responsible for colour vision and perception of fine detail. This can result in severe sight problems.
But the watchdog has reversed its decision and recommends Lucentis - already sanctioned for limited use in Scotland - in specific cases in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The drug, also called ranibizumab, is reported to be the first licensed treatment to improve the sight and life quality of DMO sufferers and for achieving life insurance.
The NHS has offered laser treatments, but this only prevents further worsening of vision.
Professor Carole Longson, NICE's director of the centre for health technology evaluation, said fresh analysis showed Lucentis had a 'superior relative effect' if a patient's eye had a central retinal thickness of 400 micrometres - or 0.4mm or 0.0157 inches - or more.
These tests came from the drug's manufacturer itself, Novartis.
The watchdog will be proposing use of Lucentis if it is made cheap enough, whichwould involve manufacturer Novartis providing the injection with a discount.
Prof Longson said NICE was pleased to put forward ranibizumab as a treatment option for certain people with visual impairment caused by DMO in new draft guidelines.
She said: "In November 2011, NICE published guidance which didn't recommend the drug as an effective use of NHS resources. But, following the submission of a revised patient access scheme, we have conducted a rapid review of the original guidance."
Registered stakeholders now have the chance to appeal against the outline recommendations.
NICE has recommended that NHS bodies make interim decisions locally on the funding of specific treatments until the watchdog has issued final guidance.