Introduction: Glaucoma affects a large number of people, and therapies for its management are based on the use of adrenergic agonist/antagonists, carbonic anhydrase (CA) inhibitors and prostaglandin (PG) analogs. However, no new drugs have been launched on the market, although some new drug classes, such as 5-hydroxy-tryptamine (5HT(2)) agonists and rho kinase inhibitors entered into advanced clinical investigations.
Areas covered: The main classes of clinically used antiglaucoma drugs, as well as potential new targets (e.g., 5HT(2) agonist, rho kinase inhibitor, RNA interference), are reviewed. A patent literature review covering the period 2007 - 2011 is presented.
Expert opinion: Most of the patents deal with sulfonamide CA inhibitors incorporating nitric oxide donating moieties or with PG analogs based on the latanoprost scaffold. The PG analogs are the predominant patented compounds. Several new potential targets emerged (e.g., rho kinase inhibitors), but no such derivatives progressed to the clinic due to adverse effects. There is an urgent need of new antiglaucoma drugs/approaches to treat and diagnose this disease in the very near future.