EyeWorld Asia-Pacific June 2013 Issue

61 EW PHARMACEUTICALS June 2013 CALENDAR OF MEETINGS 2013/2014 preserved drops. As a result, Dr. Noecker said that those patients who have never been on preserved glaucoma drops are seen by some as prime candidates for Zioptan. “One of the theories is just don’t go there—if you can avoid preservatives, it’s better not to have a problem that you have to try to undo,” Dr. Noecker said. The fact that Zioptan is a preservative-free prostaglandin may be particularly helpful for some in minimizing ocular surface issues when considering the treatment tree in which the prostaglandins are front and center. “We go in a step-wise fashion,” Dr. Rhee said. “We start with a prostaglandin, and what you add on next adjunctively depends on the practitioner.” This means that particularly when faced with a patient who is sensitive to preservatives, it is not necessary to go to a different class of medication first just because it offers a preservative-free option. One potential deterrent for selecting Zioptan has been cost, Dr. Reynolds observed, since in the best-case scenario this is considered a tier two or three drug by insurance companies and in the worst case is not covered at all. That potentially poses a problem for patients. Cognizant of this, the company has recently come out with its own payment plan in most cases making the cost of Zioptan to the patient akin to a tier two agent. “What that means is for them the cost of use will be the same or maybe a little lower than Lumigan or Travatan,” Dr. Reynolds said. Dr. Rhee noted that the single- use vials have likewise proven to be an obstacle for some. “There are some people who don’t like the single-dose delivery system,” Dr. Rhee said. In his experience, however, he has not had any patients who have wanted to change their therapy as a result of it. To the contrary, Dr. Rhee has had many patients who favor the single- dose unit, which helps them keep track of whether they have taken their daily dose of Zioptan. Overall, Dr. Reynolds views the gains with the preservative- free approach as remaining controversial. “There’s still [the thinking] out there that we should have all patients on as much preservative-free (medication) as possible,” he said. “I personally would like to see more clinical data supporting this idea.” At this point, he generally reserves the preservative-free drops for intolerant patients. “For me it’s more of the BAK intolerance and more of the patients who already have ocular surface disease problems,” he said. This is not something ubiquitous that everyone needs to be on, Dr. Reynolds concluded. EWAP Editors’ note: Dr. Noecker has financial interests with Alcon, Allergan, and Merck. Dr. Rhee has financial interests with Alcon, Allergan, AqueSys (Aliso Viejo, Calif., USA), Merck, and Santen (Osaka, Japan). Dr. Reynolds has no financial interests related to this article. Contact information Noecker : 203-366-8000, noeckerrj@gmail.com Reynolds : 208-373-1200, adamreynolds@cableone.net Rhee : 617-573-3670, dougrhee@aol.com DATE MEETing VEnUE July 6-8 2013 Indian Intraocular Implant & Refractive Surgery Convention (IIRSI) www.iirsi.com Chenai, India July 3-6 2013 AUSCRS www.auscrsthemeetingplace.com.au Uluru, Australia July 11-14 26th APACRS Annual Meeting – A Global Focus on the Anterior Segment www.apacrs.org Singapore July 14-16 An Intercontinental Perspective of Pediatric Ophthalmology & Strabismus Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) and AAPOS Joint Meeting http://www.aapos.org Singapore October 5-9 XXXI Congress of the ESCRS www.escrs.org Amsterdam, Netherlands November 16-19 Annual Meeting of American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) www.aao.org Chicago, USA 2014 February 6-9 72nd Annual Conference of the All India Ophthalmology Society (AIOS) www.aios.org Agra, India April 2-6 XXXIV International Congress of Ophthalmology (WOC 29th Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) 118th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Ophthalmological Society (JOS) www.woc2014.org Tokyo, Japan April 25-29 2014 American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Annual Meeting www.ascrs.org Boston, USA April 2-6 XXXII Congress of the European Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (ESCRS) www.escrs.org London, UK November 13-16 27th Asia-Pacific Association of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons (APACRS) Annual Meeting www.apacrs.org Jaipur, India