Latanoprost History: From Lab Bench to Eye Drop Shelf

If you’ve ever been prescribed latanoprost for glaucoma, you might wonder how that tiny bottle got on the market. The answer starts in the 1970s when scientists were playing with prostaglandins, a family of natural chemicals that affect many body parts, including the eye. They soon realized that tweaking these molecules could make the eye’s fluid drain better, which is exactly what glaucoma patients need.

Early Research and Discovery

Back in the late 1970s, researchers at Pfizer noticed that a prostaglandin called PGF2α lowered eye pressure in animal studies. The problem? PGF2α caused a lot of irritation when applied to the eye. To fix that, chemists started altering its structure, trying to keep the pressure‑lowering effect while reducing side effects. After dozens of experiments, they landed on a compound that later became known as latanoprost.

In 1992, latanoprost entered human clinical trials. Volunteers with open‑angle glaucoma received eye drops once a day, and the results were striking – eye pressure dropped by about 30% on average, and patients reported only mild redness or itching. Those early successes convinced regulators that the drug was worth moving forward.

Approval, Generic Waves and Today

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave latanoprost its green light in 1996 under the brand name Xalatan. That launch was a game‑changer: for the first time, doctors had a once‑daily eye drop that was both effective and easy for patients to use. Over the next decade, the drug became the most prescribed glaucoma medication worldwide.

When the original patent expired in 2009, several generic versions hit the market. The generics kept the same active ingredient and dosage, so patients could save money without losing any benefit. Today, latanoprost is still the go‑to choice for most eye doctors treating primary open‑angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension.

Looking ahead, researchers are exploring new prostaglandin analogs that might work even faster or cause fewer side effects. But for now, latanoprost’s history shows how a simple chemistry tweak turned a lab curiosity into a daily lifeline for millions of people with glaucoma.