Why carry out this study?

Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness and ripasudil was the first Rho kinase inhibitor approved in Japan as antiglaucoma medication.

This study evaluated the long-term safety and effectiveness of ripasudil in Japanese patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension in a real-word clinical setting, and was conducted as part of a risk management plan for safety monitoring activities.

What was learned from the study?

Ripasudil was safe and effective as an antiglaucoma medication with no new safety signals identified and significant reductions in intraocular pressure (IOP) maintained over 24 months of treatment.

The most common adverse drug reaction was blepharitis (8.6%), which was also the most common reason for treatment discontinuation.

Multivariate analyses showed that blepharitis was significantly correlated with ripasudil treatment if patients were female, had comorbid or a previous history of blepharitis, or had a history of pollen or medication allergies.