Optase Hylo Forte vs [European] Hylo Forte

Scope Eyecare recently launched Optase Hylo Forte in the US.

While this is similar to the Hylo Forte that has long been popular in Europe, and we think it's going to be very promising, it is not the same drop. And it's not just that it's a slightly different shade of red... Both the active and inactive ingredients listed are different. 

Under US rules for OTC eye drops, it is not possible to sell the original Hylo Forte here - it had to be reformulated to comply with US rules by adding a different active ingredient, and, judging from the differences in the inactives, that meant other changes had to be made as well.

While we think of Optase Hylo Forte as a "sodium hyaluronate eye drops", along with many other such sold in the US, label-reading continues to be a challenging process. Hyaluronic acid is not yet on the allowed active ingredient list at the FDA so companies cannot list it that way on their products. (if you've ever heard me on my soapbox about this you may be aware that I blame big pharma for that. Hopefully, it will change in the reasonably near future, because HA is a very important lubricant for people with dry eye.)

As you can see, the US version does not state the concentration of HA (listed as sodium hyaluronate) - normal practice for "inactive" ingredients.