EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/1312630
106 | EYEWORLD | DECEMBER 2020 C ORNEA by Liz Hillman Editorial Co-Director for lifitegrast within 12 months of starting (median for discontinuation was 89 days for cyclosporine and 29 days for lifitegrast). In the post-index period, the study authors reported 5% switching from cyclosporine to lifitegrast and 9.6% switching from lifitegrast to cyclospo- rine. Darrell White, MD, lead author of the study, gave EyeWorld further insights and interpreta- tions from the findings. "What I find interesting in this study is this is a somewhat rare example of a non-clinical data mining study in which practicing doctors were consulted on the precise types of analysis of data that would be most consistent with a real-world practice pattern," Dr. White said. Dr. White explained that patients are directed by pharmacists and the package insert to use one dropperette per dose then throw it Real-world treatment patterns of two dry eye drugs A retrospective study based on insur- ance claims data is giving real-world insights into prescribing/treatment patterns for two dry eye medica- tions—cyclosporine ophthalmic emulsion (Restasis, Allergan) and lifitegrast ophthalmic solution (Xiidra, Novartis). 1 In doing so, researchers can make inferences on adher- ence, discontinuation, and more. Using information from IBM MarketScan databases from July 2016–February 2019, 6,537 patients were identified as receiving a new prescription for cyclosporine and 3,235 for lifitegrast. Adherence, measured by propor- tion of days covered by the drug, was 5.9% for cyclosporine and 9.7% for lifitegrast. Non-per- sistence, measured by refill data, was 7.1% for cyclosporine and 6.8% for lifitegrast. Discontin- uation was 70.8% for cyclosporine and 64.4% About the physician Darrell White, MD Founder Sky Vision Centers Westlake, Ohio