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A study presented at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting compared the TearCare system with cyclosporine ophthalmic emulsion (Restasis) for the treatment of dry eye disease and meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). Preeya K. Gupta, MD, of Triangle Eye Consultants in Raleigh, North Carolina, discusses the results of .

Following is a transcript of her remarks:

We all know that dry eye is a highly prevalent disease, and to date we've typically relied on prescription therapies to treat dry eye disease. The SAHARA study is one that looked at TearCare, which is an intervention meibomian gland treatment, compared to Restasis in the treatment of patients with dry eye disease and MGD.

There were 345 subjects enrolled in this prospective randomized mass trial, and it was done in 19 sites across the entire U.S. Subjects were randomized 1:1 to receive TearCare or branded Restasis. The people in the TearCare arm received two TearCare treatments, one at baseline and then again one at 5 months. And everyone in the Restasis treatment arm was dosed with one drop twice a day. The patients were checked on, they were ensured that they were actually adhering to the medication, so this was a clinical trial.

And what was found was that TearCare was found to be superior and offered a greater improvement across all time points, in tear break-up time, conjunctival staining, meibomian gland secretion score, and this was similar in both males and females.

It was really exciting to see that TearCare was superior to Restasis in all of those clinical signs. As clinicians, those are things that we're looking for on a regular basis in our patients, and really are offering meaningful information in terms of understanding how our patients can improve with interventional MGD therapy.

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