Evolving knowledge of the unmet needs in dry eye disease

• Published in: The American journal of managed care Vol. 27; no. 2 Suppl; pp. S23 - S32
• Main Authors: Dunn, Jeffrey D, Karpecki, Paul M, Meske, Mary Elizabeth, Reissman, Deborah
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.03.2021
• Subjects: Health administration
• ISSN: 1088-0224; 1936-2692
• DOI: 10.37765/AJMC.2021.88625

Dry eye disease is a common but underdiagnosed disorder in the United States, and its prevalence is likely to increase as the nation's population ages. Although still regarded as little more than a nuisance by many clinicians and payers alike, dry eye disease is known to have both clinical consequences for ocular health and effects on vision-related quality of life in many people, impairing their ability to function well in vocational and social settings. Pharmaceutical treatments consist mainly of over-the-counter ocular lubricants ("artificial tears") and a few prescription drugs that address the inflammatory component of dry eye disease through immunomodulation and/or inhibition of T-cell activity. In September 2020, Oyster Point Pharma, Inc (Oyster Point Pharma), convened a panel-consisting of 7 managed care executives with experience in management of dry eye disease treatments and 2 eye care practitioners with expertise in dry eye disease-to discuss how the growth of knowledge about dry eye disease in the past 2 decades has altered their thinking about and approach to dry eye disease, as well as how they would like to see the field advance. They pointed to an existing unmet need in knowledge and therapeutics that can address the underlying causes of dry eye disease. Oyster Point Pharma supported the authorship of this article; the authors were members of the panel, and all panelists were compensated by Oyster Point Pharma. This article provides an overview of dry eye disease and summarizes the panel discussion.