Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA (May 8, 2002) XALACOM (fixed combination latanoprost 0.005% and timolol 0.5%) once-daily is more effective for the reduction of intraocular pressure (IOP) than Cosopt (fixed combination dorzolamide 2% and timolol 0.5%) twice-daily in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension, according to a study presented at the annual conference of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The study conducted by RM Feldman, M.D., University of Texas Health and Science Center, Houston, TX and DH Shin, M.D., Kresge Eye Institute, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI compared the efficacy and safety of XALACOM and Cosopt over three months in patients whose IOP was inadequately controlled on monotherapy.

This studys findings underscore the importance of XALACOM in the arsenal of IOP lowering medications, said Dr. Feldman. Fixed combination therapies may be key to improving compliance among patients who do not respond to monotherapy, and in this study XALACOM was more effective than Cosopt. The study conducted at 30 eye centers in the United States on 251 patients with primary open angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension was a randomized, parallel group, masked-evaluator, multicenter comparison of XALACOM and Cosopt. After three months of treatment, mean diurnal (+/- standard error of the mean) IOP reduction from baseline was 9.4 +/- 0.27 mmHg for XALACOM and 8.4 +/- 0.26 mmHg for Cosopt. XALACOM recorded a mean difference in IOP reduction of 1.00 mmHg versus Cosopt. The difference was statistically significant (p<0.005).

While both drugs were well tolerated locally and systemically, three times as many patients treated with Cosopt reported eye pain --14.1% (n=18) with Cosopt versus 4.0% (n= 5) with XALACOM.

Additionally, more patients reported eye irritation with Cosopt (7.8%, n=10) than with XALACOM (5.6%, n=7). Taste disturbance was the most frequently rep
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Contact: Nii Turkson
nii.turkson@ketchum.com
44-207-611-3500
Ketchum
8-May-2002

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