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Bimatoprost shows better efficacy, similar tolerability to timolol for chronic angle-closure glaucoma
Administering bimatoprost once daily appears more effective for lowering IOP compared with twice-daily timolol in patients with chronic angle-closure glaucoma, according to a study by researchers in several Asian countries.
Prin Rojanapongpun, MD, and colleagues compared the efficacy, safety and tolerability of Lumigan (bimatoprost, Allergan) with timolol in a prospective study involving 212 patients. All patients had previously undergone laser peripheral iridotomy to treat chronic angle-closure glaucoma. Specifically, investigators randomly assigned 107 patients to treatment with bimatoprost 0.03% once per day and 105 patients to treatment with timolol 0.5% administered two times daily, according to the study.
At 2 weeks follow-up, bimatoprost-treated patients had a significantly better mean IOP reduction of 30.6% compared with the 19.2% IOP reduction in the timolol-treated group (P < .001).
Reductions in IOP averaged 29.7% in the bimatoprost group vs. 18.8% in the timolol group at 6 weeks (P < .001) and 28.3% in the bimatoprost group vs. 18.4% in the timolol group at 3 months (P < .001), according to the study.
"There was no significant difference in the number of patients in each treatment group who withdrew because of an adverse event," the authors noted.
The study is published in the December issue of Asian Journal of Ophthalmology.