Expert discusses expanding roster of options for dry eye disease
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NEW ORLEANS — Recent years have brought several significant advances in dry eye disease treatment, Amy Lin, MD, said during Cornea Subspecialty Day at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting.
New treatments for dry eye disease (DED) include novel mechanisms of action and delivery systems.
“This translates to more options for our patients,” Lin said.
Lin discussed FDA-approved DED treatments including Eysuvis (loteprednol etabonate ophthalmic suspension 0.25%, Kala Pharmaceuticals), Tyrvaya (varenicline solution 0.03 mg, Oyster Point Pharma) and iTEAR100 (Olympic Ophthalmics).
Eysuvis, which was approved in October 2020 for short-term DED, uses proprietary Ampplify mucus-penetrating technology to improve symptoms and signs of DED, Lin said, noting that she mainly uses Eysuvis for acute dry eye flares, but that it can also be used for induction therapy when initiating chronic topical anti-inflammatory treatment.
Lin also offered a “snapshot” of various DED therapies still in the pipeline, including CyclASol (0.1% cyclosporine A in EyeSol, Novaliq), SURF-100 (mycophenolate sodium and betamethasone sodium phosphate in Klarity vehicle) and SURF-200 (betamethasone in Klarity vehicle) (both Surface Ophthalmics), Pro-ocular (progesterone gel formulation, Sifi) and OCS-02 (Oculis).
CyclASol, which contains a substantially higher corneal penetration of cyclosporine A in comparison to other oil- or water-based formulations, offered statistically significant improvement in DED signs and symptoms compared with vehicle at 4 weeks during a phase 3 trial, she said, while Pro-ocular is a progesterone gel applied to the forehead to activate a neural pathway that stimulates lacrimal and meibomian gland function.
“There are several novel existing and potential future treatments for dry eye disease,” Lin said. “This is very exciting for our patients, as there is an ever-expanding armamentarium of options for treating our patients.”