August 26, 2004
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Cevimeline may be viable treatment for dry eye in patients with Sjögren’s syndrome

Cevimeline, a drug used to treat dry mouth in patients with Sjögren’s syndrome, may also be helpful to treat dry eye in these patients, according to a Japanese study.

Masafumi Ono, MD, and colleagues at Tokyo Hospital assigned 60 patients with dry eye in Sjögren’s syndrome to one of three treatment groups: placebo, cevimeline 20 mg three times daily or cevimeline 30 mg three times daily. All patients underwent treatment for 4 weeks. Patients were evaluated before treatment, at week 2, at the end of treatment and at the end of a 2- to 4-week follow-up.

Statistically significant changes were seen with cevimeline 20 mg three times daily compared with placebo. No differences in safety were found among the three groups.

The study is published in the July issue of American Journal of Ophthalmology.