The current mainstay of treatment for noninfectious uveitis is corticosteroids. However, side effects associated with long-term corticosteroid therapy necessitate the use of other immunosuppressive therapies. The two most commonly used of these therapies are methotrexate and mycophenolate mofetil. There have been no prospective randomized, controlled trials to systematically determine which antimetabolite is more clinically efficacious as initial corticosteroid-sparing therapy.

To address this gap in clinical knowledge, Dr. Acharya has designed and is coordinating the FAST study as a multicenter, block randomized, observer -masked, comparative effectiveness trial, with the aim of establishing which drug is more effective as a first-line therapy. This large NIH-funded trial is taking place in collaboration with uveitis specialists Dr. Rathinam at Aravind Eye Hospital in India, Dr. Debra Goldstein at Northwestern University, Dr. Eric Suhler at Oregon Health Sciences University, Dr. Lourdes Arellanes at Asociacion Para Evitar la Ceguera in Mexico City, and Dr. Lyndell Lim at Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.