A new treatment for uveitis may soon be available to your patients.

In a phase I/II clinical trial, researchers at the National Eye Institute’s Laboratory of Immunology gave 10 uveitis patients who’d been weaned off of steroids and immunosuppressive agents infusions of Zenapax (daclizumab, Hoffmann-LaRoche), a monoclonal antibody that blocks the receptor for interleukin 2. Interleukin 2 is a factor that simulates the immune system. The infusion was given every 2 weeks and then every 4 weeks during the study.

Zenapax, currently approved in the United States and 26 other countries to prevent kidney transplant rejection, was well tolerated and effective. Eight of the 10 patients found that it prevented expression of their disease and helped improve their visual acuities over a 1-year period, with minimal side effects.