Dry eye disease is a chronic condition where the eyes don't produce enough tears or the tears evaporate too quickly, causing discomfort, blurred vision, and potential corneal damage. It is extremely common — affecting hundreds of millions worldwide — and while artificial tears help symptoms, they don't address the underlying inflammation or gland dysfunction.
What's actually going on in research
Cyclosporine and lifitegrast are established anti-inflammatory eye drops, and newer drugs targeting IL-1, IL-17, and other inflammatory pathways are in late trials. Intense pulsed light therapy and meibomian gland probing for evaporative dry eye are being tested in controlled trials. Stem cell-derived tear proteins and gene therapy approaches to restore lacrimal gland function are in very early development.
Novel anti-inflammatory drops
Drugs targeting different inflammatory mediators in dry eye — including IL-1 receptor antagonists and integrin blockers — are in trials as alternatives for patients who don't respond to cyclosporine.
Meibomian gland therapy
Thermal pulsation, intense pulsed light, and direct gland probing are being studied in trials to restore the oil glands that prevent tear evaporation in evaporative dry eye disease.
Mucin and tear protein therapies
Eye drops delivering mucin mimetics and recombinant lacritin (a tear protein) are in trials to address dry eye not driven primarily by inflammation.
What to know before you search
Eligibility requires a dry eye diagnosis with specific symptom scores, corneal staining grades, tear film parameters, and often prior inadequate response to artificial tears.
What types of trials are currently open
- Drug trials — Testing new anti-inflammatory eye drops, mucin mimetics, or neurostimulation approaches.
- Device trials — Evaluating thermal pulsation devices, intense pulsed light, and nerve stimulators for dry eye.
- Surgical and procedural trials — Testing punctal plugs, meibomian gland probing, and amniotic membrane grafts.
- Diagnostic trials — Validating biomarkers (MMP-9, osmolarity) for dry eye diagnosis and treatment monitoring.
- Lifestyle and nutritional trials — Testing omega-3 supplementation, screen use reduction, and environmental modification.
Recently added Dry Eye Disease trials
Effect of Dry Eye Treatment on Corneal Astigmatism Measurements
This prospective single-center study evaluates the effect of dry eye disease and short-term ocular surface treatment on the agreement and repeatability of corneal astigmatism measurements in patients with age-related cataract. Participants undergoing preoperative cataract evaluation are classified into a control group or a dry eye disease group according to ocular surface symptoms and objective tear film findings. All participants undergo ocular surface assessment and repeated corneal measurements using three commonly used devices: IOLMaster 700, Pentacam AXL, and iTrace Prime. Measurements include keratometric corneal astigmatism, total corneal astigmatism, and vector components of astigmatism. Patients with dry eye disease receive 0.3% sodium hyaluronate eye drops four times daily for 2 weeks, after which ocular surface assessment and device measurements are repeated. The primary objective is to determine whether dry eye disease reduces interdevice agreement and test-retest repeatability of corneal astigmatism measurements, and whether short-term ocular surface treatment improves measurement stability. Interdevice agreement is assessed using Bland-Altman analysis, and repeatability is evaluated using within-subject standard deviation, test-retest repeatability, and intraclass correlation coefficient.
Dose-Finding Study of HUC1-394 in Participants With Dry Eye Disease
Clinical trial aims to determine the optimal dosing regimen by evaluating the efficacy and safety of HUC1-394 across different dosing frequencies in patients with moderate to severe dry eye disease.
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