New Medications For Glaucoma?
Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in America. The condition is caused by ocular hypertension; it damages the optic nerve resulting in vision loss. There is no known cure, but there are pharmacologic therapies and some invasive. One drug, latanoprost, is a standard first-line treatment for those newly diagnosed with glaucoma. However, the first line of defense does not mean it is the most effective treatment necessarily. Two new classes of drugs approved by the FDA have been introduced for the treatment of open-angle glaucoma—latanoprostene bunod and netarsudil. Using them in conjunction with previous medications could improve patient outcomes.
"What is unique about the netarsudil/latanoprost combination is this is really one of the first times we actually had a medicine go up against latanoprost alone," said Joseph F. Panarelli, MD, associate professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at NYU Langone Medical Center. "Latanoprost is one of our bigger guns out there, so it is encouraging to see that we have these new medicines, and it's nice to see data that does support good efficacy with these different agents."
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