Santen Pharm Korea’s preservative-free glaucoma treatments Taflotan-S Eye Drops (tafluprost) and Cosopt-S Eye Drops (dorzolamide hydrochloride/timolol maleate) improved the ocular surface disease (OSD) and quality of life significantly, compared to preservative-containing latanoprost, a study showed.
The study, led by professor Kook Moon-seok of ophthalmology at Asan Medical Center, was published in the February issue of Pharmaceuticals.
Compared to the preservative-containing drug, the study assessed the efficacy and patient satisfaction of preservative-free agents, compared to the preservative-containing drug, in Korean glaucoma patients with OSD suffering from dry eye symptoms.
The research team randomly assigned 107 local glaucoma patients with OSD to the Taflotan-S, Cosopt-S, and the latanoprost group. The primary endpoint was changes in the ocular surface disease index (OSDI) from the baseline, and the secondary endpoint, patient-reported treatment satisfaction.
The results showed that the mean total OSDI scores improved significantly from baseline with Taflotan-S and Cosopt-S by minus 9.5 and minus 10.5, respectively. In contrast, the scores did not improve in the latanoprost group.
In the Taflota-S group, 51.3 percent of the patients said they were “very satisfied or satisfied” with the treatment results, versus 16.7 percent in the latanoprost group.
“The study is meaningful in that it confirmed the effect of preservative-free treatments in the long-term treatment of glaucoma with OSD as well as the patients’ treatment satisfaction and vision-related quality of life,” Kook said.
“Preservative-free treatments are expected to be a long-term alternative to safely managing intraocular pressure for glaucoma patients who are experiencing side effects from preservatives.”
Santen Pharm Korea’s Taflotan-S and Cosopt-S maintain the same intraocular pressure-lowering effect without benzalkonium chloride, which has been used as a preservative. This reduced OSD symptoms such as pain, feeling of a foreign body, burning sensation, and dryness caused by the long-term use of the preservative.