Dr Cantor’s article¹ (see page 1370)on the efficacy of bimatoprost and travoprost in patients with glaucoma and ocular hypertension shows again that both these drugs are efficacious in lowering intraocular pressure (IOP). The study is a prospective, randomised investigator-blinded trial, which has results similar to those found in studies carried out with the drugs in this class.

Dr Cantor found that bimatoprost lowered IOP slightly more than travoprost in this study population. This is the first relatively large two-arm study to show this in a head-to-head design. The current study supports others who have shown that bimatoprost is somewhat more efficacious than travoprost.

What is reassuring about this study is that there are no surprises, and the results appear to be consistent with what has been seen in the collection of other studies comparing drugs in this class. The relative degrees of IOP reduction, rates of hyperaemia and clinical success parameters are within the range …