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No IOP change after switching to latanoprost/carteolol fixed combination
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Switching patients with primary open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension from concomitant latanoprost and carteolol HCL to a latanoprost/carteolol fixed combination led to similar IOP control and good patient satisfaction.
Forty-three patients (43 eyes) who were using latanoprost in the evening and carteolol HCl (CH) in the morning were switched to latanoprost/carteolol fixed combination, once daily in the morning.
Researchers found IOP values recorded at 1 and 3 months after switching from latanoprost and CH to the latanoprost/carteolol fixed combination (LCFC) were not significantly different from those at baseline.
Furthermore, they found no difference in the IOP values obtained using the LCFC according to the type of glaucoma, baseline IOP or number of medications contained in the original regimen.
In addition, corneal epithelial defects were significantly reduced, and tear break-up time was significantly increased.
Nineteen patients said they missed doses with less frequency after switching to LCFC, and 29 patients rated the eye drop container as more user-friendly.
Thirty-three patients (80.5%) preferred LCFC, according to the study. – by Abigail Sutton
Disclosure: The researchers reported no relevant financial disclosures.
Perspective
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Derek MacDonald, OD, FAAO
I’m glad that I practice in Canada.
We’ve got great beer and poutine (just ask the Google) and several excellent prostaglandin analog/beta-blocker (PGA/BB) fixed combination (FC) drugs that play a prominent role in my glaucoma practice.
Inoue and colleagues, using protocol very similar to routine clinical care, have arrived at conclusions that mirror those of prior investigators: PGA/BB FC drugs lower IOP as well as the individual constituents used concomitantly, have a favorable safety profile, decrease ocular irritation and increase patient satisfaction.
In managing any chronic and initially asymptomatic disease, poor adherence is a prominent contributor to treatment failure: Drugs don’t work for people who don’t take them. Cost, convenience and comfort are integral. The latter two can, at least in part, be addressed through leveraging FC; in fact, it is possible to prescribe drugs from four classes, using as few as three or four drops from just two bottles, only one of which is preserved with BAK (and at an extremely low concentration, to boot).
Simplifying dosing schedules and minimizing iatrogenic complications encourage adherence and, in doing so, help control disease progression. Fixed combinations, while not without limitations, are one means to that end.
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