|Articles|July 15, 2015

Santen launches new preservative-free combination eye drop in the UK

Author(s)Faye Emery

Santen recently launched fixed-combination tafluprost and timolol (TAPTIQOM) in the United Kingdom.

Santen recently launched fixed-combination tafluprost and timolol (TAPTIQOM) in the United Kingdom.

The recently developed, preservative-free, fixed-dose combination of 0.0015% prostaglandin F2α analog (tafluprost) and beta-adrenergic antagonist (0.5% timolol) is designed to lower intraocular pressure (IOP). TAPTIQOM® is available in single dose containers and is administered as one drop once-daily.

According to a review study published in Advances in Therapy in 2014, patients with high IOP responded well to TAPTIQOM®, which delivered IOP reductions of up to 40% (>13 mmHg) versus baseline and even beyond this in some cases. Specifically, two Phase-III studies (n=484) revealed that TAPTIQOM® delivered IOP reductions of between 28% and 40% (dependent on baseline) at 3 months. The Advances in Therapy review included double-masked, controlled clinical trials carried out with the following combination products: Xalacom®, DuoTrav®, Ganfort® and TAPTIQOM® and found that the reduction in IOP was similar to that of other prostaglandin–timolol fixed-combination products used in open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension.

Reducing hyperaemia and improving tolerability

Although questions have been raised in the ophthalmic community around the benefit of adding a further combination product with similar efficacy to the market, The European Glaucoma Society 2014 guidelines do state that when selecting glaucoma therapy, consideration should be given not only to IOP lowering but also to tolerability, adherence and cost.

Despite similar IOP-reducing capacities, when compared to previous controlled and double-masked clinical trials with DuoTrav® (Alcon, Fort Worth, USA) and Ganfort® (Allergan, Irvine, USA), the review revealed that TAPTIQOM® caused fewer superficial ocular side effects and less conjunctival hyperaemia. Indeed, the frequency of reported treatment-related adverse event conjunctival / ocular hyperaemia in clinical studies was low (7% of patients). In addition, in the small number of TAPTIQOM® treatment-related hyperaemia cases, the condition was mild and was associated with discontinuation of therapy in just 1.2% of patients.

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