Brimonidine Purite and bimatoprost compared with timolol and latanoprost in patients with glaucoma and ocular hypertension

This 3-month multicenter, investigator-masked, parallel-group study compared brimonidine Purite and bimatoprost (brimP/bim) with timolol gel-forming solution and latanoprost (tim/latan) in 28 patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. IOP was measured at baseline and 2 hours after morning instillation at weeks 2, 4, and 12. The primary outcome measure was the mean IOP reduction from baseline. Secondary measures were the percentage of patients in each group who achieved specific low target pressures and the incidence of adverse events. Mean IOP at baseline was 24.8 mm Hg in each group. At follow-up visits, mean reductions from baseline ranged from 8.5 to 9.0 mm Hg with brimP/bim and from 7.5 to 7.7 mm Hg with tim/latan. More patients achieved low target pressures with brimP/bim. At week 12, 69.2% of brimP/bim patients and 27.3% of tim/latan patients had IOPs of 16 mm Hg or lower (P = .024). Both regimens were well tolerated, and adverse events were infrequent. The combination of brimonidine Purite and bimatoprost was well tolerated and at least as effective as Timoptic-XE and latanoprost in reducing IOP. More patients achieved low target IOPs with brimonidine Purite and bimatoprost than with Timoptic-XE and latanoprost. A larger study is needed to confirm these results.