Anecortave acetate: A new approach for the medical treatment of glaucoma

The medical management of glaucoma is often compromised by patients' nonadherence with prescribed topical therapy - both the ability to execute eye drop administration and persistency of medication use. This can be made more complex in patients who are taking multiple systemic medi-cations and multiple medications to lower IOP. The consequence of inadequate treatment arising from patient nonadherence is disease progression, with permanent and irreversible loss of visual function. The Early Manifest Glaucoma Treatment Study (EMGTS) found that among individuals treated and closely monitored for their glaucoma, 57% progressed in a 5-year period. In 2008, Urquhart described noncompliance, nonabsorption, and nonresponse as possibilities for disease progression despite use of prescribed medications. It may be that part of the reason for progression in glaucoma is poor adherence to prescribed therapy.