Abstract

P 006

Reliability of dosing, ease of administration and daily costs in glaucoma combination therapy

Buchholz A. P., Hartmann E., Ehrecke D., Dörfel J., Gurjanov E.
Diakonissenkrankenhaus Karlsruhe-Rüppurr, Augenabteilung,  Karlsruhe

Objective: Numerous studies have demonstrated the IOP-lowering efficacy of fixed combination ocular hypotensive agents.^1-4 The purpose of this study was to assess dosing ease and reliability with Ganfort (bimatoprost 0.03%/ timolol 0.5%), DuoTrav (travoprost 0.004%/timolol 0.5%), and Xalacom (latanoprost 0.005%/timolol 0.5%) fixed combination therapies and to estimate daily treatment costs in European countries.
Methods: 3 bottles of each drug were evaluated for the number of drops in each bottle; ease of product handling was also assessed. Drug prices were based on public prices (including VAT) for 3-packs or for single packs. Daily treatment costs were calculated for the complete use of each bottle or for 1 month.
Results: In no test was the drop count inferior to the number needed for 1 month of bilateral treatment. If products have to be discarded after 1 month, daily treatment costs are rather similar within countries, but differed between countries with a range of 0.62€ to 1.22€. Ganfort had a mean of 107±2.5 drops per bottle, compared to 93±2.7 for DuoTrav and 87±2.7 for Xalacom. Ganfort had the lowest daily cost in 7 countries where all three products are available: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom. Duotrav was the least expensive in Ireland, Xalacom the least in the Netherlands. The Ganfort bottle was considered the easiest to handle, while the Duotrav bottle was determined to be the most difficult.
Conclusions: Ganfort was easiest to handle, yielding the highest and most reliable number of applications and the lowest daily cost in most countries.
¹Barnebey HS, Orengo-Nania S, Flowers BE, et al. Am J Ophthalmol 2005;140:1–7
²Data on file, Allergan.
³Konstas AG, Lake S, Economou AI, Kaltsos K, Jenkins JN, Stewart WC. Arch Ophthalmol. 2006;124:1553-7.
⁴Franks WA, Renard JP, Cunliffe IA, Rojanapongpun P. Clin Ther. 2006;28:332-9.

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