First Launch Of P&U's Xalatan For Glaucoma

Pharmacia & Upjohn has launched Xalatan (latanoprost) solution in the USA, its first market, for the second-line treatment of patients with open-angle glaucoma who are intolerant or unresponsive to other intraocular pressure-lowering products.

New Wave Of Products After a long lull in the availability of new treatments following beta-blockers such as timolol, recent times have seen an influx of new glaucoma therapies, including Allergan's Alphagan (brimonidine), an alpha2-adrenoreceptor agonist, and Merck & Co's Trusopt (dorzolamide), a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor. Alphagan has just been approved in the USA, its first market (Marketletter September 16), while Trusopt has been available since 1995.

Xalatan is in a class of compounds related to the prostaglandins, which increase the outflow of aqueous humor and so reduce pressure in the eye. Xalatan increases drainage of this fluid, which in glaucoma is produced at a normal rate but does not exit the eye rapidly enough, a situation which may cause damage to the retina and optic nerve if left undetected.