TearCare superior to Restasis in TBUT, measures of meibomian gland secretion in dry eye
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Key takeaways:
- TearCare outperformed Restasis in tear break-up time and meibomian gland secretion score.
- OSDI scores and other dry eye measures were similar between treatments.
The office-based thermal eyelid treatment TearCare significantly improved tear breakup time and measures of meibomian gland secretion compared with Restasis in patients with dry eye disease, according to 6-month trial data.
“Treatments for DED and MGD typically begin with lid hygiene,” Brandon D. Ayres, MD, co-director of the cornea fellowship program at Wills Eye Hospital, and colleagues wrote in Clinical Ophthalmology. “Numerous medications are available to treat DED, including topical cyclosporine A and lifitegrast and more recently intranasal varenicline. Likewise, several in-home and in-office procedural-based strategies that include lid warming and massage treatments ... are available to manage MGD.”
In the multicenter, randomized SAHARA trial, Ayres and colleagues enrolled 345 adults with dry eye disease who were assigned treatment with the TearCare system (Sight Sciences) or Restasis (cyclosporine ophthalmic emulsion 0.05%, Allergan/AbbVie). Participants receiving TearCare were treated at baseline and month 5, while those on cyclosporine were dosed daily for 6 months; all participants were monitored at day 1, week 1 and months 1, 3 and 6.
Outcomes of interest included TBUT and ocular surface disease index, as well as meibomian gland secretion score, conjunctival and corneal staining, eye dryness score, symptoms assessment in dry eye score and Schirmer tear score.
According to results, TBUT improved at all time points in the TearCare (n = 172) and cyclosporine (n = 173) groups, although a statistically significant improvement of 2.39 seconds was reported from baseline to 6 months for TearCare (P = .0006). Improvement in meibomian gland secretion score also was statistically more significant with TearCare vs. cyclosporine.
Researchers reported significant improvements in OSDI and other measures in both groups, with no differences between treatments.
“While Restasis has been a longstanding staple in dry eye therapy, the findings from the SAHARA [randomized control trial], highlighting the efficacy of TearCare in addressing the underlying causes of evaporative dry eye, encourage a reconsideration of prioritizing interventional treatment over a prescription-based approach,” Ayres said in a related Sight Sciences press release.
Reference:
- Sight Sciences announces the publication of successful results of the SAHARA randomized controlled clinical trial comparing TearCare to Restasis for the treatment of dry eye disease. https://investors.sightsciences.com/news-releases/news-release-details/sight-sciences-announces-publication-successful-results-sahara. Published Dec. 18, 2023. Accessed Dec. 20, 2023.
Collapse
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts