New drugs for the treatment of dry eye disease

Abstract

Dry eye disease (DED) is one of the most commonly encountered conditions for eye care practitioners. The prevalence of DED can be as high as 30% of the population. In the past decade, only one drug has been approved for the treatment of DED by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA (ie, Restasis® by Allergan, Inc.). The total annual cost (ie, treatment and lost productivity due to symptoms) to the US economy of dry eye can be more than $55 billion. Thus, the development of new drug treatments for dry eye is important for both the dry eye patient and the ophthalmic industry. There are many drugs in development for the treatment of dry eye. This manuscript reviews the drugs listed on the ClinicalTrials.gov website (FDA list of clinical trials) being investigated for the treatment of dry eye. A large number of these drugs are designed to target a specific cause of dry eye and some of these drugs will be approved for clinical use in the next 10 years. This will result in a significant increase in the clinician’s choice of treatment and potentially better control of the dry eye patient’s condition.