Our annual ASCRS issue, as you'd expect, features some timely and useful information for the anterior segment surgeon. But I found several other articles this month to be as just as important and perhaps even more timely, given that it's once again Glaucoma Awareness month.
The approval of a new drug is always a hopeful time for manufacturers and clinicians, but the arrival of Allergan's long-awaited, fixed-combination glaucoma drug Combigan is something more. As positive as the approval itself, the more important long-term significance may lie in what the approval says about the FDA's approach to fixed-combination drugs. We're fortunate to have Dr. Tony Realini on board this month to walk through how Combigan can benefit glaucoma patients who don't reach target pressures on a single medication, as well as what the drug doesn't do, what R&D challenges remain and why this is a fertile area of further research. See Glaucoma Management this month for Dr. Realini's article.
Another interesting read is the CME article addressing the latest data and thought processes related to how to begin glaucoma drug therapy, the changes in the ways clinicians assess its effectiveness and how to modify it, when necessary. Four leading glaucoma experts weave a practical and thorough review of their approaches to choosing a drug, educating the patient on the choice and tackling the challenges of patient compliance.
In this last area, compliance and the art of delivering medicine where it can do some good, there's another related article that won't solve any problems immediately but does give an interesting look at how technology is being brought to bear on the wasteful and inefficient delivery mechanisms that mark current ocular medications. Our Technology Update suggests that "outside-the-bottle" thinking is alive and well, and solutions may not be all that far off.
It would be nice to report breakthrough drugs and treatment in glaucoma, but for now, it appears that keeping clinicians up to date on treatment trends and educating patients on a basic understanding of what the disease is will have to pass for progress.
