Drug groups for glaucoma

2025 05 05 Owen Yang

Anti-glaucoma prostaglandins analogue (#S01EE) are used in non-acute glaucoma but not the first line in Taiwan. For acute angle closure glaucoma Mannitol is likey used in the emergency setting, but in Prescribing in Taiwan there is no specific code for mannitol, and it is under Blood substitutes and perfusion solutions (#B05).

In acute condition this will be added with carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (#S01EC), ocular beta-blocking agents (#S01ED), and ocular sympathomimetics. They are also used as first few lines of treatment in non-acute glaucoma, and only when insufficient can prostaglandin analogues usually be prescribed.

Note that there are two ATC codes for ocular sympathomemetics, anti-glaucoma sympathomimics (#S01EA) and ophthalmological sympathomimetics used as decongestants (#S01GA).