Therapeutics News

ATLANTA – Data suggest that nearly 50% of culture results in eye care indicate a form of Staphylococcus aureus or Staphylococcus epidermidis that is resistant to fluoroquinolones, Rich Mangan, OD, said here at SECO. However, if you are already treating a patient with a fluoroquinolone and, “you’re seeing clinically that the ulcer is improving, you’re justified to keep with it.”

ATLANTA – Zaina Al-Mohtaseb, MD, provided tips here at SECO on triaging corneal infections into low risk, high risk, fungal and parasitic and determining appropriate treatment.

ATLANTA – The arc of glaucoma will be impacted by sustained release delivery methods, as compliance is the biggest contributor to progression, according to J. James Thimons, OD, FAAO, at SECO.

ATLANTA — Last year was an exciting time for new glaucoma drugs, J. James Thimons, OD, FAAO, said at SECO.

ATLANTA – “A new era of glaucoma management has arrived,” J. James Thimons, OD, said here at SECO. Thimons discussed how Rhopressa (netarsudil ophthalmic solution 0.02%, Aerie Pharmaceuticals) relaxes the trabeculum and may provide some form of trabecular regeneration. He said Vyzulta (latanoprostene bunod ophthalmic solution 0.024%, Bausch + Lomb) has an additive effect to latanoprost acid by increasing vascular permeability and flow in and around the trabecular meshwork.

Q BioMed Inc., a biomedical acceleration and development company, along with researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have begun evaluating the feasibility of GDF-15, a novel biomarker for monitoring glaucoma, as a companion diagnostic to a small molecule currently in development for the topical treatment of glaucoma.

Last week an intern and I were managing an older patient who was a low-risk suspect for glaucoma. He had been treated for about 5 years with a prostaglandin analogue drop and about 3 years with an alpha-agonist drop.

SAN FRANCISCO ― At the Glaucoma 360: New Horizons Forum, Tom Mitro, president and chief operating officer of Aerie Pharmaceuticals, discusses the build-out the company is performing to ramp up for the commercial launch of Rhopressa for the treatment of glaucoma and gives an update on clinical trials of Roclatan.

Contact lenses that elute drugs and those that measure glucose may be available in the near future if technologies being developed by OcuMedic Inc. and i-Chek prove successful.

Video blogger Agustin L. Gonzalez, OD, FAAO, said optometrists will receive more samples from pharmaceutical companies if they write prescriptions.