Restasis commercial and MEGs question

[dryeyes2]

I was watching the Restasis commercial last night and decided to write the company to let them know I felt that the portrayal of a person with dry eye was absurd. This woman can go everywhere including driving in a convertible car and a public place like a museum without protective eye wear.

I have been using Restasis now for 7 months. There is minimal improvement, but I can't go out without protective eyewear. I wear my fitover sunglasses in stores to shield them from air circulation. I still have to use safety goggles over my glasses while I am at home when the furnace or air conditioner are on. I still use lots of gels and drops. It is less than before, but I can't say it is from Restasis necessarily. It maybe because of wearing these goggles.

I did notice in the fall when the air or furnace was not on, I felt more comfortable and did not have to wear the goggles, but used drops or the gel. So perhaps the Restasis has helped some? As soon as the furnace had to come on (yes I have a humdifier on that and I use a separate one in the bedroom) I was back wearing goggles again.

Does anyone know anymore about when the MEGs are going to be available?

Thanks.
dryeyes2

[Rebecca Petris]

Does anyone know anymore about when the MEGs are going to be available?

There's no information to be had at present (I've been keeping in touch with them). Once there's anything even moderately firm-sounding I'll post here and in the weekly bulletin.

Another moisture chamber product is due out in first quarter of 2008 however which I'm expecting will be a really good one. Manufacturers keep close wraps on the info/timing till close to actual release so not too much to tell about it yet.

[dryeyes2]

Thanks

Thank you Rebecca for the information. I appreciate it!

[dianat]

I, too, always had the urge to punch the girl in the Restasis ad. In one of the ads she declares that she, "...didn't even know she had dry eye until her doctor told her." What a joke.

[brd888]

Come on now, there must be lots of people with dry eyes who are unaware of the condition (if it isn't severe). I had "it" for six months before I found out it was "dry eye" - I thought it was a deformity of eye lid or ocular surface.
I think the ad is probably trying to bring less severe dry eye sufferers out of the woodwork to sell more products to.

Regards.

[dianat]

All you say is true, but with my burning eyes and hardly the ability to watch TV, I still wanted to punch her.

[indrep]

considering how few people are actually helped by restasis, the commercial is misleading at best and an outright commercialization of healthcare preying on people at worst.

[Rebecca Petris]

Re: Bruce's point... I guess there are two ways to look at "I didn't know I had it till the dr. told me"

1) I didn't know anything was wrong with me ("Gee, your eyes are looking dry. Here, go fill an Rx for...")

or

2) I knew I had a problem but I didn't know it was called dry eye. (This is legitimate. There are a lot of people whose primary symptoms are not dryness but tearing, redness, photosensitivity, etc.)

Either way, I'm glad I don't watch TV so I don't get aggravated by this crap. The "throw away your glasses" posters around town are bad enough.

If there is anything positive to be salvaged from the massive overselling of Restasis these past few years, it's that dry eye at least is getting talked about one heckuva lot more than it used to. Remember the NWHRC's "100 dry eye hot spots" that generated so much press? That would not have happened without Allergan/Restasis. Not that I am overflowing with gratitude or anything, but I do like to see the half full part of the glass.

[calli66]

My eyes are BETTER!

I, for one, am DONE with my many experiments using Restasis. I used to get lured into trying it "just one more time" at least once a year since 2003. If I had half a brain left, I would have realized that it never improved my tears, and usually made my eyes worse. I think I'm allergic to something in it.

Since quitting it this last time (about 2 weeks ago), my eyes are much improved. The excess mucous has disappeared.

But----the main thing I've done, which probably accounts for most of the improvement, is that 2 months ago I gave up wearing CONTACT LENSES. I went through getting upper plugs (which didn't work--had them removed) and more Restasis after that. But when I quit the Restasis my eyes improved.

Now, it seems my eyes can tolerate (and benefit from) Dwelle, Dakrina, and NutraTear. Amazing, because I've never been able to use them before.
And I seem to be able to use other drops without as much trouble, too. I have been paying more attention to using PF drops---giving up on my usual bottled varieties. And maybe it's true, that Hypotonic drops help the eyes to heal.

Well, I know there are a lot of variables....but I'd like to blame Restasis for my troubles, even if it isn't supported by facts! (I don't have a TV and don't have to watch any commercials, but I still dislike the mass-marketing).

Calli

[dianat]

Okay, let's just face it. Regardless of the drug, the pharmaceutical ads, though rather well-produced in my opinion, are all irritating and absurd. The footage rarely reflects anything to do with the ailment in question.

I could argue they simply show people just living their normal lives, except for so many that...well, just don't do that. A recent Viagra television ad shows a gray-haired couple laying in separate bathtubs on a beach toasting glasses of wine. The only thing worse than such stupidity would be actually seeing the poor guy struggling. I guess in the case of Viagra, sublety is important.

The bottom line is that whether Restasis has worked for us or not (or whether we care for the commercials or not) our very interest in the product is speaking volumes to the pharmaceutical companies.

For those of us who have purchased Restasis, know that Allergan has reported net sales of Restasis through the third quarter of this year to be $243.9 million dollars and is projected to be between $330 and $340 million for all of 2007. That's a pretty staggering figure for a product that comes up pretty damn short in the treatment of dry eye.

And though I've bought the stuff and found it to be ineffective, I consider my investment well-spent. If sales of Restasis were flat, there wouldn't be much incentive for pharm companies to invest in research for new and more effective dry eye products.

So let Restasis have it's 15 minutes. It's definitely a step in the right direction. Maybe some day we will ride in that convertible!

[brd888]

Restasis, as described in Dry Eye Remedy is a great treatment for a small percentage of dry eye patients. I believe the developers of it (the scientists) know it is being marketed to people (by the suits) who won't benefit but this is outwith their hands.

Rebecca, I'd like to know more about Dry eye knowledge a few years ago - do you think we are at the start of a revolution in treatment or just past a peak in publicity?

Cheers

[dryeyes2]

I wonder...

I wonder if Restasis is really helping at all and if it is minimal, I am not sure I should stay on it. I wonder if there could be potential problems down the line outweighing minimal benefits. I am also concerned about long-term immunosuppression in the eye and if that truly makes sense.

[Rebecca Petris]

Rebecca, I'd like to know more about Dry eye knowledge a few years ago - do you think we are at the start of a revolution in treatment or just past a peak in publicity?

It's an interesting question. Where are we at with dry eye really? I have been wanting so much to find some time to do some more thoughtful blogging about all this. But a few scattered thoughts for the moment:

I think we're seeing a LOT of changes and trends most of which are NOT temporary and which point to the changes/trends continuing to evolve. I do not think that we have just had a "fad" of dry eye press... I think it's just started and will go through lots more evolutions.

There are several clear catalysts for change and for increasing public awareness including:

- Dry eye is becoming epidemic and that's definitely not going to change. Lots of causes... lousy diet; prescription drug side effects; elective surgery side effects; and environment/occupation (i.e. sitting in air conditioned offices all day staring at computers, and often with contact lenses sticking to a mildly compromised eye surface). These things are all part and parcel of western culture, so the sheer numbers of people with dry eye will continue to increase and - sadly - more and more young people and even kids are being affected.

- LASIK. This was one of the early and small but significant catalysts. If you cause someone a problem with an elective surgery they expect you to come up with a solution.

- Restasis, the blockbuster drug, has induced all kinds of companies to put resources into dry eye research.

- (most of all) Aging of the baby boomers. This is not only the biggest and wealthiest group of people with dry eye but also to a considerable extent a group with a different attitude and expectations from medical practitioners than the previous generation.

So that is all adding up to...

- An attractively sized target market (just look at the drug pipeline page... obviously the pharmas have been aware of this for some time now)

- A lot of people walking away from doctors who fail to help them

- A lot of people demanding information, not just drugs

- Far more people pursuing non-drug solutions than ever before

But going back to the question: Are we on the brink of a revolution in treatment? Not really. Not yet. It's all still about "plug & drop", which helps the mild cases and masks or postpones the moderate cases till they get worse.

I think that there is an interesting "micro" trend out there though:

By and large, ophthalmology is failing dry eye patients because as a group, they are both poorly equipped and uninterested in this area of practice, while optometry is increasingly taking an interest in picking up the pieces. More and more optometrists are strategically planning their practices for dry eye care and figuring out what they need to do and learn to be able to really help and retain dry eye patients. I say, more power to 'em.