Thursday, May 31, 2007

Newsclip: Ecabet sodium preliminary results

ISTA Pharmaceuticals Announces Positive Preliminary Results from Ecabet Sodium Phase IIb Study

This is the latest on Ista Pharmaceutical's Phase IIb clinical trials of ecabet sodium as a dry eye treatment. Positive trends were noted in blink rate, OSDI scores and subjective assessment of patients' most bothersome symptom.

Ista anticipate starting Phase III clinical trials next year.

A total of 112 patients were assigned randomly to receive either ecabet sodium or placebo four times a day for 90 days. There were four primary efficacy endpoints: two objective signs (blink rate and corneal staining) and two subjective symptoms (the patient's most bothersome symptom and the patient's response to the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI)). Patients were evaluated in a controlled adverse environment ("dry eye chamber") twice during the study, once on Day 1 and once on Day 91. The objective signs were measured pre- and post-exposure to the dry eye chamber on Day 91. The subjective symptoms were measured following exposure to the dry eye
chamber on both Day 1 and Day 91. To date, the FDA has considered improvement, as measured in Phase III studies, in one sign and one symptom to be acceptable for approval of a prescription dry eye product.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Books and sleep masks....

I undertook two dry eye duties yesterday, and both surprised me.

First, I read "Reversing Dry Eye Syndrome" by Dr. Steve Maskin and found myself awfully disappointed. I had fully expected to like this book and was looking forward to reviewing it. Even on flipping through it when I first got my copy a few days ago I was basically prepared for a really good "Dry Eye 201" type book. Not. It was not without redeeming qualities, but I certainly hadn't expected to have to look for them.

Second, I tried out what looked to me like a cheapo, overpriced sleep mask and loved it!

A few people on Dry Eye Talk have mentioned that they get adequate overnight protection with a simple sleep mask so I decided to scout out for the best cheap, mid-range and high end ones I could (while still staying under the Tranquileyes price range, since once you get into that range you might as well buy tranquileyes) and see how they fared. This was the 'mid-range' one I had selected: the "Silhouette', by Dream Essentials. Wow! It was comfy, blocked almost all light and therefore presumably almost all air, felt good, stayed on all night, and most importantly kept my eyes protected surprisingly well. I would not hesitate to make this my travel mask of choice or even just keep it around for home use when I'm too lazy to wash those Tranquileyes pads. I also feel much more comfortable about being able to suggest this budget alternative or suggesting it for people who for whatever reason cannot wear tranquileyes overnight. Here's a link for more info.