A 6-month study showed that the fixed-dose combination of netarsudil 0.02%/latanoprost 0.005% ophthalmic solution (NET/LAT; Roclanda [Santen]) was noninferior to bimatoprost 0.03%/timolol maleate 0.5% (BIM/TIM; Ganfort [Allergan]) for OAG and ocular hypertension (OHT) treatment.

The combination netarsudil — a Rho kinase inhibitor — and prostaglandin analogue latanoprost was developed to optimize complementary IOP-lowering mechanisms, according to investigator Ingeborg Stalmans, MD, University Hospitals UZ Leuven, Louvain, Belgium. The MERCURY-3 study was published in Graefe’s Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology.

Efficacy analyses were performed at month 3 on 388 patients (NET/LAT, n=184; BIM/TIM, n=204). NET/LAT demonstrated noninferiority to BIM/TIM, with a between-treatment difference in IOP of ≤1.5 mmHg achieved at all time points and ≤1.0 mmHg at the majority of time points (6 of 9) through month 3. Mean diurnal IOP during the study ranged from 15.4 mmHg to 15.6 mmHg in the NET/LAT group and 15.2 to 15.6 mmHg in the BIM/TIM group, with no between-group statistically significant difference. No significant differences in key secondary endpoints and no serious treatment-related adverse events were observed.

“NET/LAT offers a compelling alternative fixed-dose combination treatment option for OAG and OHT,” the investigators concluded.