Oral treatment with the melatonin agonist agomelatine lowers the intraocular pressure of glaucoma patients

Purpose Agomelatine is an agonist of melatonin that is used in the treatment of major depressive disorders. It has also shown an ability to decrease IOP in experiment animals and in normal human subjects. This pilot study addresses for the first time agomelatine effects on the IOP of patients affected by POAG. Methods Ten patients affected by hypertensive POAG treated by multiple hypotensive topical drugs and under further treatment with agomelatine (25 mg day−1 per os) for psychiatric problems, were enrolled. IOP tonometric values were measured at enrolment and after 15 and 30 days of agomelatine supplementation. Results Agomelatine given orally showed a significant hypotonising effect, stably decreasing IOP by roughly 30% of the enrolment value after 15 and 30 days of treatment. Conclusions The hypotonising effect of oral systemic agomelatine at 25 mg day−1 was able to further decrease IOP in both eyes of all enrolled POAG patients in which multiple drug treatment with anti-glaucoma eye drops had no further effect.