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Repurposing of a cardiovascular drug for treating eye disorders
Dipyridamole (also known as Persantin) is a drug in use for the past 55 years for treating angina (a cardiovascular condition). It has a well established safety profile. The typical daily oral dose is between 200mg and 400mg.
In 2012 a breakthrough was reached when dipyridamole in eye drop form was discovered to have excellent effects in treating dry eye, pterygium, pinguecula, cataract, nevus, viral eye infection, MGD and a variety of other eye disorders.
The dipyridamole eye drops are prepared by specialist pharmacies, where each drop contains 1/50,000th of the daily oral dose - a margin of safety unparalleled by any pharmaceutical eye drop. In comparison, Restasis® (the only approved drug for dry eye - an immune suppressant) and Vigamox® (an antibiotic drug for eye infection) are used in a range of 1/400 - 1/800 of the oral dose.
This valuable discovery was not made by a pharmaceutical company, but by an independent researcher. The process of bringing such a discovery through the drug approval process is costly - up to $30 million in the USA alone, and can take up to 5 years.
Fortunately, since dipyridamole is a drug that is readily available, compounding pharmacies are permitted to prepare it. The concentration in eye drops is low enough to fall below the “drug” threshold and into “homeopathic” regulatory classification. This has enabled patients suffering from eye disorders to benefit from the dipyridamole eye drops discovery without losing precious time.
At the present time, research into dipyridamole eye drops is being conducted by Ariel University in Israel and MedInsight Research Institute - USA. Several hospitals / research departments plan to launch trials in the coming months. Concurrently, the process of commercialization and obtaining FDA (and similar international agencies) approval is being undertaken by RemedEye Inc., a U.S. company that owns the international intellectual property on the use of dipyridamole in eye drop form.
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Some users have been very generous in sharing their success with others, and have permitted us to use their photographs and information in anonymized fashion.
Dipyridamole's beneficial effects in treating several eye disorders (dry eye, pterygium, pinguecula, viral eye infection, MGD, cataract, conjunctival melanocytic nevus and blepharitis) were discovered by Moshe Rogosnitzky.
First case of successful management of pterygium and associated symptoms using topical dipyridamole: published in Case Rep Ophthalmol. 2014 Mar 25;5(1):98-103


