After two years of deliberations, the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence agreed to an arrangement that will allow patients to receive the Lucentis treatment for age-related macular degeneration. For the first time, however, a drugmaker will foot part of the bill in situations where government funding is insufficient.

Here’s the plan: The first 14 injections of the sight-saving drug will be paid for by the UK’s National Health Service, but if the patient still needs further treatment then Novartis will pay for any additional doses.

The ruling overturns previous draft guidance that patients would have to go blind in one eye before receiving treatment with Lucentis, which costs more than $20,000 per eye, on the second eye. This also paves the way for other new drugs for which additional doses may be required to be funded in the same way in future, The Telegraph notes.

NICE has been severely criticised in recent months by health campaigners, who have accused them of condemning patients to “an early grave” by denying them drugs. Richard Barker, director general of the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry suggests other meds the NHS cannot afford to pay for in full could be provided through cost sharing schemes between the NHS and drugmakers.

Lucentis, by the way, has caused controversy in the US, as well. The drugs was tested for safety and efficacy in treating AMD and approved by the FDA two years ago, but is closely related to Avastin, which was approved for cancer in 2004 and since then widely prescribed off label because it is much cheaper. A single dose of Lucentis for AMD costs $2,000, while a larger concentration in a bottle of Avastin can be split and cost only $40 to $75 for each injection. Genentech makes both drugs, while Novartis has marketing rights outside the US. (Some back story here).