Treating dry eye syndrome with tamarind seed polysaccharide (TSP)

Establishing the tolerability and performance of tamarind seed polysaccharide (TSP) in treating dry eye syndrome: results of a clinical study.

Article specifications

This clinical trial was published in 2007 in Journal of BMC Ophthalmol. (IF 2007:1.32) by Italian specialists. The activity of TSP and hyaluronic acid (HA) in the treatment of dry eye syndrome was compared in an open-label, randomised, single-centre clinical study. Thirty patients were randomised to receive three or more applications per day of either TSP 0.5%, TSP 1% or HA 0.2% (Hyalistiltrade mark) over a period of 90 days.

 

Results

This study suggests that TSP 0.5% and 1% offer at least equivalent relief to HA 0.2% for dry eye syndrome. All treatments demonstrated optimal tolerability and are suitable for frequent use in the therapy of dry eye. TSP 1% produced promising results in terms of improvements in certain patient symptoms and suggests benefits of the TSP formulation. This study paves the way for a larger study to further establish the performance and safety of TSP compared with HA and highlights the need to expand this therapeutic agent to a wider dry eye population.