Esen Akpek, MD, on dry eye combo drug's move to phase 3

Dry eye disease's multifactorial nature, involving both inflammatory and evaporative components, has long limited single-mechanism therapies to addressing only part of the underlying disease process. Ophthalmology Times spoke with Esen K. Akpek, MD, director of the Frances and C. Stephen Foster Center for Ocular Immunology and Inflammation and chief of the Division of Ocular Immunology at Duke University School of Medicine, for an independent read on Bausch + Lomb's dual-action dry eye drop combining lifitegrast and perfluorohexyloctane. An internationally recognized cornea surgeon and ocular immunologist, Akpek has authored more than 250 peer-reviewed publications, including as a contributing author of the TFOS DEWS II epidemiology report, and her research has helped advance the understanding and management of complex ocular surface disease.