Uveitis, caused by inflammation of the eye’s uvea, presents as decreased or blurry vision, ocular ache, eye redness, photophobia, and/or floaters. Uveitis cases can vary depending on etiology, anatomy, laterality, duration, and frequency of episodes. While the majority of patients (70-90%) present with anterior uveitis, most uveitis-related vision loss results from chronic inflammation of the back segment of the eye (i.e., intermediate-, posterior-, or pan-uveitis). Intermediate-, posterior-, and pan-uveitis can be more difficult to manage, although, as for anterior uveitis, corticosteroids remain the clinical mainstay for posterior segment uveitis. Patients requiring long-term treatment or with refractory inflammation also may be treated with corticosteroid-sparing therapies, such as antimetabolites, alkylating agents, and/or biologic agents, alone or in combination with corticosteroids in order to avoid potential safety complications related to high dose or long-term corticosteroid treatment.
Using longitudinal U.S. claims data, this report examines current trends in the management of uveitis (intermediate, posterior, and panuveitis) for both newly diagnosed patients and patients filling a prescription for a key therapy in the third quarter of 2013. For the newly diagnosed patients, the report provides a quantitative analysis of treatment patterns and share by line of therapy as well as progression between lines, duration of treatment on each line, and use of concomitant treatment. For recently treated patients, the report quantifies a drug’s source of business compared with its competitors and details which drugs precede others through an analysis of add-versus-switch patterns. Additional analyses explore persistency and compliance by brand.