Improvements seen for corneal epithelial damage, dryness symptoms<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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MONDAY, April 10, 2023 (HealthDay News) — A water-free cyclosporine solution is effective for treating moderate-to-severe dry eye disease (DED), according to a study published online April 6 in JAMA Ophthalmology<\/em>.<\/p>\n Esen K. Akpek, M.D., from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and colleagues evaluated whether water-free cyclosporine eye drop, 0.1 percent, is effective in treating DED. The analysis included 834 study participants randomly assigned to twice-daily cyclosporine solution or vehicle for 29 days.<\/p>\n The researchers found that participants treated with cyclosporine solution had greater improvement in total corneal fluorescein staining (tCFS) than the vehicle group (\u00e2\u0088\u00924.0 versus \u00e2\u0088\u00923.6 grades) at day 29 (change [\u00e2\u0088\u0086], \u00e2\u0088\u00920.4; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], \u00e2\u0088\u00920.8 to 0; P = 0.03). Treatment benefits in the dryness score from baseline were seen in both groups: \u00e2\u0088\u009212.2 points for cyclosporine and \u00e2\u0088\u009213.6 points for vehicle (\u00e2\u0088\u0086 = 1.4; 95 percent CI, \u00e2\u0088\u00921.8 to 4.6; P = 0.38). Clinically meaningful reductions of three grades or higher in tCFS were achieved by 71.6 percent in the cyclosporine group versus 59.7 percent in the vehicle group (\u00e2\u0088\u0086 = 12.6 percent; 95 percent CI, 6.0 to 19.3 percent; P < 0.001). Compared with nonresponders, these responders showed greater improvement in symptoms at day 29, including dryness (\u00e2\u0088\u0086 = \u00e2\u0088\u00924.6; 95 percent CI, \u00e2\u0088\u00928.0 to \u00e2\u0088\u00921.2; P = 0.007) and blurred vision (\u00ce\u0094 = \u00e2\u0088\u00923.5; 95 percent CI, \u00e2\u0088\u00926.6 to \u00e2\u0088\u00924.0; P = 0.03).<\/p>\n “The rapid onset and magnitude of improvements on the corneal epithelial damage are potential differentiators to existing therapies,” the authors write.<\/p>\n Several authors disclosed ties to Novaliq, which funded the study.<\/p>\n Abstract\/Full Text<\/a><\/p>\n Editorial (subscription or payment may be required)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/i><\/p>\n