Early Real-World Physician Experience with an Intracanalicular Dexamethasone Insert

Cynthia Matossian,1 John D Stephens,2 Michelle K Rhee,3 Stephen E Smith,4 Parag A Majmudar,5 Subba Rao Gollamudi,6 Ravi H Patel,7 Maria E Rosselson,5 Aditi Bauskar,8 Alyssa Montieth,8 Fabiana Q Silva,8 Srilatha Vantipalli,8 Andrea Gibson,8 Jamie Lynne Metzinger,8 Michael H Goldstein8 1CM Associates, LLC, New Hope, PA, USA; 2Tyson Eye, Fort Myers, FL, USA; 3Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA; 4Eye Associates, Fort Myers, FL, USA; 5Chicago Cornea Consultants, Ltd., Chicago, IL, USA; 6Eye Specialty Group, Memphis, TN, USA; 7Eye Associates of Central Texas, Round Rock, TX, USA; 8Ocular Therapeutix, Inc., Bedford, MA, USACorrespondence: Srilatha Vantipalli, Ocular Therapeutix, Inc, 24 Crosby Drive, Bedford, MA, 01730, USA, Tel +1 413-230-7242, Email SVantipalli@ocutx.comPurpose: To describe the early real-world experience of physicians with an intracanalicular dexamethasone insert (DEX) in patients undergoing cataract surgery and to capture the clinical impact of adopting this therapy.Patients and Methods: 23 United States sites including Ambulatory Surgical Center Setting (ASC) and Outpatient Clinical settings. Respondents were physicians who had early experience with DEX in cataract surgery patients. This was a Phase 4 experiential cross-sectional survey study comprised of 3 sequential online physician surveys. Descriptive statistics summarized the surveys’ responses to determine the early impressions of the respondents.Results: Forty-two physicians completed surveys. On average, physicians reported feeling comfortable administering DEX after placing 3 inserts (mean 2.7; standard deviation 1.9). Most physicians (92%) were satisfied with DEX, and all physicians (100%) reported that DEX improved patient compliance. Most physicians (62.5%) indicated they would highly prefer DEX over traditional steroid eyedrops for the management of post-surgical inflammation and pain.Conclusion: The surveys exploring the early use of DEX suggest that DEX is a clinically effective treatment with a rapid initial learning curve and integrates well into clinical use. Physicians had a very positive early experience with DEX, including comfort with insertion and satisfaction. DEX shows promise as a primary treatment choice of physicians for ocular inflammation and pain following cataract surgery by offering patients a hands-free innovative therapy that delivers a preservative-free steroid to the ocular surface over approximately 30 days.Keywords: intracanalicular dexamethasone insert, phacoemulsification, hands-free therapy, ocular pain, ocular inflammation, sustained-release drug delivery