Genentech sent letters to eye specialists on Wednesday to say its controversial drug for treating age-related blindness caused a higher rate of strokes in a recent analysis of 2,4000 patients. The company didn’t get around to posting the letter on its web site until today.

Earlier this month, the biotech acknowledged in its earnings call what a Genentech spokeswoman called an “imbalance” in the rate of strokes caused by different doses. New info is more specific - patients taking a higher dose had a 1.2 percent incident of strokes, compared with .3 percent at the lower dose.

The spokeswoman said Genentech informed the FDA of the results, which she called ”consistent” with earlier findings and maintained that there’s ”no indication” the Lucentis label will change as a result.

Still, this isn’t exactly good news. Genentech is already facing criticism because Lucentis is derived from its own Avastin cancer drug, which is priced at just a small fraction of Lucentis. The lower price has prompted some doctors to use Avastin instead.

[tags]Avastin, Genentech, Lucentis[/tags]