Positive topline data from the first of two phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the safety and efficacy of OTX-DP (sustained release dexamethasone), for the treatment of ocular inflammation and pain following cataract surgery, have been released, developer Ocular Therapeutix (Bedford, Mass.) said in a press release.

Two Atlanta-based companies have collaborated to develop a video game "based on a patented method exclusively used for the treatment of amblyopia," Ubisoft and Amblyotech said in a joint news release. "Dig Rush" features patented electronic therapy that has been tested to "significantly increase the visual acuity of both children and adults who suffer from this condition without the use of an eye patch."

RESEARCH BRIEFS

• Retaine ophthalmic emulsion (carboxymethylcellulose sodium 0.5%, OCuSOFT, Rosenberg, Texas) provides enhanced comfort and improves the quality of life of dry eye subjects while reducing the ocular signs of dry eye, according to a new study. George Ousler III and colleagues enrolled 42 patients and instructed them to instill 1-2 drops twice daily beginning at the first visit (day 1) and ending at the second visit (around 2 weeks). Subjects were instructed to complete a symptomatology diary twice daily prior to drop instillation through the morning of the second visit. Ocular sign and symptom assessments, visual acuity procedures, and comfort assessments were conducted during both visits. A statistically significant reduction was observed in mean breakup area on the second visit between the pre-dose time and the post-dose time (P=0.026). On the second visit, subjects had significantly less corneal fluorescein staining in the superior (P=0.002), central (P=0.017), corneal sum (P=0.011), and all ocular regions combined (P=0.038) than on the first visit. On the second visit, statistically significant reductions in dryness (P<0.001), grittiness (P=0.0217), ocular discomfort (P=0.0017), and all symptoms (P<0.001) were also seen. The study is published in Clinical Ophthalmology.
• Trabeculectomy is cost effective at a substantially lower cost per quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) compared with tube insertion, according to Richard I. Kaplan, MD, and colleagues. They used a Markov cohort model with a 5-year time horizon to study a hypothetical cohort of 100,000 patients who required glaucoma surgery to determine QALY gained, costs from a societal perspective, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of medical treatment, trabeculectomy, and tube insertion. The mean costs for medical treatment, trabeculectomy, and tube insertion were $6,172, $7,872 and $10,075, respectively; these amounts resulted in a cost difference of $1,700 for medical treatment vs. trabeculectomy, $3,904 for medical treatment vs. tube insertion, and $2,203 for trabeculectomy vs. tube insertion. The mean 5-year probability of blindness was 4% for both surgical procedures and 15% for medical treatment. The utility gained after medical treatment, trabeculectomy, and tube insertion was 3.10, 3.30, and 3.38 QALYs, respectively. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was $8,289 per QALY for trabeculectomy vs. medical treatment, $13,896 per QALY for tube insertion vs. medical treatment, and $29,055 per QALY for tube insertion vs. trabeculectomy. The study is published in JAMA Ophthalmology.
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease reduced endothelial functional reserve and increased corneal endothelial vulnerability to intraocular surgical stress, according to Núria Soler, MD, and colleagues. They prospectively enrolled 165 eyes and assigned patients to 1 of 3 groups: mild to moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; n=67 eyes), severe to very severe COPD (n=40 eyes), and without COPD (control; n=58 eyes). Significant differences in nearly all preoperative and 3-month postoperative corneal endothelial parameters were observed between the COPD groups and the control group, the former having a lower cell density and percentage of hexagonal cells and a higher coefficient of variance of the mean cell area. The control group reported no corneal edema, while rates in the COPD groups were more than 30%. There was no significant difference in the preoperative or 3-month postoperative mean central corneal thickness between the groups. The study is published in the Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.