NICE recommends Santen’s Roclanda to treat glaucoma and ocular hypertension

Primary open-angle glaucoma affects around 2% of adults aged 40 years and older in the UK

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued guidance recommending Santen’s Roclanda for use in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) or ocular hypertension (OHT).

The health technology assessment agency has specifically recommended that Roclanda be used when a fixed-dose combination (FDC) treatment has not achieved sufficient intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction, or when a FDC treatment containing beta-blockers is unsuitable.

It is now the first medicine that has been reviewed and recommended by NICE for glaucoma in over 25 years.

POAG, a slow-developing disease that causes damage to the optic nerve, is the most common form of glaucoma in the UK, affecting approximately 2% of adults aged 40 years and older.

The standard treatment for reducing IOP in patients with POAG or OHT includes a prostaglandin analogue eye drop and, if this does not work well enough, patients are typically given a FDC treatment eye drop.

Roclanda is a FDC of latanoprost, a prostaglandin analogue, and netarsudil, a rho-kinase inhibitor, that lowers IOP while targeting trabecular meshwork (TM) dysfunction.

Santen outlined that no currently available medical therapies have directly targeted TM dysfunction, a primary cause of increased outflow resistance and subsequent elevation of IOP, until now.

Nishani Amerasinghe, President of UK and Éire Glaucoma Society, said: “Evidence shows there is a benefit to addressing both the trabecular and uveoscleral aqueous humour outflow mechanisms to control intraocular pressure to treat POAG and OHT.

“Having Roclanda available for eligible patients who may not have other effective options, represents an addition in the medical management of glaucoma.”