Cyclosporine Ophthalmic Solution Safe, Accessible in Uncontrollable Dry Eye

Michelle Hessen, OD, assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Medicine, spoke about the future direction of study when focusing on cyclosporine ophthalmic solution 0.09% (Cequa; Sun Pharmaceutical) and how it can help those with uncontrollable dry eye.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity; captions were auto-generated.

Transcript

Should cyclosporine ophthalmic solution, 0.09%, be used indefinitely?

That's a great question. In the treatment of dry eye, we not only want to improve patient symptoms, but as well as the signs of their dry eye, meaning the corneal fluorescein staining, as well as lissamine green staining. As long as these patients are continuing to improve and are comfortable, I would probably continue them on the Cequa, unless otherwise indicated as this is a very safe drug, and most patients tolerate it very well, despite some mild installation irritation,

How accessible is this treatment for patients?

At this time, I feel like Cequa accessibility has improved greatly over the last probably couple of years, such that it is covered by most commercial insurances, as well as some Medicare plans and Medicaid.

What should research into uncontrollable dry eye focus on in the future?

I think one area that that should still be studied is that [in] patients with severe corneal and conjunctival staining, if an increased dose of Cequa would give any additional benefit as compared to the twice-daily dosing.