Treatment involves a combination of levofloxacin and dexamethasone for use after cataract surgery
Santen has announced the launch of Ducressa in the UK and Ireland. The therapy is a fixed dose combination of levofloxacin and dexamethasone for use after cataract surgery.
It is part of a more convenient seven-day therapeutic strategy to optimise post-surgery care. Levofloxacin is a proven broad-spectrum antibiotic and dexamethasone is a potent anti-inflammatory agent.
The length of this treatment can depend on the patient’s risk factors and outcome of surgery and must be determined by the doctor according to slit-lamp microscopic findings and depending on the severity of the clinical picture. A follow-up treatment with steroid eye drops should not normally exceed two weeks. However, care should be taken not to discontinue therapy prematurely.
The results of LEADER7 – a large, international, randomised clinical study – with 808 patients enrolled in 53 centres across Italy, Germany, Spain and Russia, evaluated one-week of levofloxacin/dexamethasone eye drops, followed by one-week dexamethasone alone, versus the gold-standard of two-week tobramycin/dexamethasone.
The study showed that 95.2% of the patients in the test arm versus 94.9% of the control arm had no signs of inflammation in the anterior chamber. No statistically significant difference was evident in any of the other secondary endpoints, while both treatments were generally well tolerated.
Paul Campbell, marketing manager at Santen UK and Ireland, reflected: “With a large backlog of patients waiting for cataract surgery, due to delays caused by COVID-19, the importance of reducing post-surgery complication is more crucial than ever.”
“By providing a more convenient, fixed dose option for patients, Ducressa can help to prevent and treat inflammation following cataract surgery, thereby making sure time and resource is focused on working through surgical waiting lists rather than on post-operative complications,” he added.
Craig Wallace, general manager of Santen UK, concluded: “Adherence to treatment is essential to avoid post-operative infections and offering a seven-day option with Ducressa can help. As a patient-focused company we are always looking for ways to make sure treatments are effective, convenient and easy to use for patients.”
Re-evaluation of patients to assess the need to continue the administration of corticosteroid eye drops as monotherapy is recommended after the completion of one week of therapy with Ducressa eye drops.
