Anecortave acetate shown to lower IOP in different forms of glaucoma

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A study in Brazil has concluded that an anterior juxtascleral depot of anecortave acetate can significantly reduce IOP for at least 3 months in several types of glaucoma.

"These are all severe cases, all patients without controlled IOP, despite using medication," Tiago S. Prata, MD, told Ocular Surgery News, in an interview at his poster at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting here. "Most of them required surgery or additional medication, and instead of doing the surgery, we enrolled them in the study."

The prospective, nonrandomized open-labeled clinical trial treated 25 eyes of uncontrolled glaucoma patients with a single anterior juxtascleral depot of 30 mg of anecortave acetate (Alcon) under topical anesthesia. The eyes were assessed after 1 week, 1 month and 3 months. A mild subconjunctival hemorrhage was observed in four cases. One eye developed a small and transient corneal dellen at the first week, according to the poster abstract.

"We didn't have any major complications with the injections; no pain because the patients are under anesthesia, no decrease in visual acuity and only mild foreign body sensation," Dr. Prata said.

The mean IOP of the study patients was 30.9 (± 9.2) mm Hg at baseline, 20.9 (± 7.5) mm Hg at the first month, 21.5 (± 7.6) mm Hg at the second month and 19.1 (± 5.2) mm Hg at the third month. Those eyes with angle-closure glaucoma showed a mean IOP of 17.4 mm Hg, and open-angle glaucoma cases showed a mean IOP of 20.7 mm Hg.

"It's a huge IOP decrease with only one injection and no need for additional medication," Dr. Prata said.