A new trial involving a higher concentration of an existing drug candidate has shown promising results in the treatment of the rare eye infection, Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK).
Professor John Dart, a consultant at Moorfields Eye Hospital, led the phase three trial, involving 127 people receiving treatment for AK at six hospitals across Europe, in England, Italy and Poland.
The trial compared the efficacy and safety of polihexanide (0.08%) as a monotherapy with a widely used dual therapy, combining a lower dose of PHMB (0.02%) with propamidine.
Both formulations were found to be highly effective when used with the detailed drug delivery protocol, with medical cure rates of 87% and only 6.3% needed therapeutic corneal transplant surgery.
Dual therapy was more ‘effective than usual’ as clinicians followed a strict treatment protocol, while the simplicity of monotherapy was favoured as it reduced the risk of errors in practice.
Professor Dart said: ‘We hope that our new robust findings with polihexanide 0.08% will be a game changer for AK treatment, by improving access and the consistency of treatment, addressing currently unmet patient needs.’
Full findings were published in Ophthalmology.