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The global clinical trial landscape for glaucoma over the past three decades: current status and future prospects

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Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness, affecting an estimated 76.0 million individuals aged 40–80 years worldwide in 2020, with projections reaching 111.8 million by 2040 [1]. Clinical trials are essential for translating scientific discoveries into effective treatments, yet the global distribution, sponsorship, and innovation trends of glaucoma trials remain unclear [2]. This study systematically examines the worldwide landscape of glaucoma clinical trials, aiming to reveal current patterns, regional inequalities, and future opportunities for innovation in glaucoma therapeutics.

We systematically searched the Trialtrove database (https://clinicalintelligence.citeline.com), a global clinical trial repository integrating data from ClinicalTrials.gov, WHO registries, and other regional sources. Utilising the retrieval strategy: “Disease is Ophthalmology: Glaucoma”, a total of 1356 glaucoma-related clinical trials were identified from the Trialtrove database as of November 14, 2025. These trials encompassed a wide range of investigational drugs, mechanisms of action (MoAs), and therapeutic targets across different phases and geographic regions.

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Fig. 1: Global landscape of clinical trials on therapeutic agents for glaucoma.

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Data and code will be made available on request.

References

  1. Tham YC, Li X, Wong TY, Quigley HA, Aung T, Cheng CY. Global prevalence of glaucoma and projections of glaucoma burden through 2040: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ophthalmology. 2014;121:2081–90.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the contribution of all researchers whose clinical trial data were integrated into this analysis, which collectively provided valuable insights into the global landscape of glaucoma research. Special thanks are extended to Yuning Wang for valuable assistance with data preparation and extraction.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Science Foundation Project (No. 82201176). The funder had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or report writing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children’s Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Yanggang Hong

  2. The Second School of Medicine, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Yanggang Hong

  3. School of Ophthalmology & Optometry, School of Biomedical Engineering, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Yuze Mi & Wanyi Shu

  4. National Clinical Research Center for Ocular Diseases, Eye Hospital, School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Qi Dai & Lin Fu

Authors
  1. Yanggang Hong
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  2. Yuze Mi
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  3. Wanyi Shu
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  4. Qi Dai
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  5. Lin Fu
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Contributions

YH: Conceptualisation, Investigation, Validation, Visualisation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing. YM: Validation. WS: Validation. QD: Validation. LF: Writing—review & editing, Funding acquisition.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yanggang Hong.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

AI statement

The authors used AI-assisted tools for language editing to improve clarity and readability. The study design, data extraction, analyses, interpretation, and all scientific conclusions were performed by the authors, who take full responsibility for the content.

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The analyses for this study were based on publicly available datasets, and no additional ethics approval or consent was needed.

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Hong, Y., Mi, Y., Shu, W. et al. The global clinical trial landscape for glaucoma over the past three decades: current status and future prospects. Eye (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-026-04384-6

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