Navigated laser in diabetic macular edema: the impact of reduced injection burden on patients and physicians-who wins and who loses?

We inquired the impact of reduced therapy discontinuation in diabetic macular edema (DME) on physician’s revenue considering anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) monotherapy and its combination with Navilas treatment. Data were collected on injection frequency, treatment discontinuation and reimbursement fees for DME treatment with anti-VEGF compared to anti-VEGF in combination with navigated laser. Based on these data an economic model was built to compare physicians revenue over a 5y period using either therapy for 4 European countries and the USA. Due to patients’ higher therapy adherence, physicians using navigated laser therapy with anti-VEGF generate similar or higher revenues compared to VEGF monotherapy in all analyzed countries. The use of Navilas decreases the patient’s injection burden at the same clinical outcome, while the physician’s revenue remained stable or increased. Therewith, therapy discontinuation in DME can be reduced using the combination therapy with Navilas.