Brinzolamide/Brimonidine Fixed Combination: Simplifying Glaucoma Treatment Regimens.

INTRODUCTION: To simplify the medical treatment of glaucoma for patients on multiple drops by introducing brinzolamide/brimonidine tartrate fixed combination (BBFC) ophthalmic suspension 1%/0.2% (SIMBRINZA® ; Alcon Laboratories, Inc., Fort Worth, TX, USA) to the drop regimen and to establish its efficacy. To demonstrate that fixed combination (FC) therapies are associated with improvements in treatment adherence and persistence with reduced exposure to preservative-related ocular surface problems.

METHODS: Retrospective study: 76 patients were identified as taking BBFC following a switch in treatment regimen. Intraocular pressure (IOP) prior to and 2-17.5 months (average 5.4 months) after the introduction of BBFC was measured. The change in the average number of bottles used per eye was recorded. The rate of adverse effects (AEs) of BBFC was recorded. A two-tailed paired sample t test was used to compare IOP prior to and after the introduction of BBFC for each eye.

RESULTS: Mean change in IOP after BBFC introduction BBFC: - 2.76 mmHg (p < 0.0001). BBFC intolerance: 13%. On average there was a 0.24 reduction in the number of bottles of IOP-lowering medication used per eye (p < 0.0064).

CONCLUSION: A switch to BBFC in the drop regimen is associated with a significant drop in IOP with reduced drop burden. Instead of a third IOP-lowering medication and bottle, a practitioner should consider using BBFC + prostaglandin analogue/FC drop for effective IOP control, reduced drop burden, reduced preservative load and increased likelihood of adherence. This study promotes the concept that any treatment should principally be assessed from the patients' perspective and quality of life.