Botox Approved for Overactive Bladder Treatment

The word is leaking out. Botox may soon be a
treatment of choice for urinary incontinence.(Sorry!)


The Food and Drug Administration recently approved
onabotulinumtoxinA, manufactured under the name Botox by Allergan Inc.,
as a treatment for overactive bladder, following two clinical trials
involving more than 1,100 patients.

Study participants whose bladder muscles received Botox injections
showed between 1.6 and 1.9 times fewer episodes of urinary incontinence
daily compared with those who received a placebo injection, according
to the FDA. Botox recipients also had less frequent urges to urinate and
produced more urine than people who received a placebo. The treatment
works by relaxing the bladder muscle, thereby increasing the bladder’s
storage capacity.

“Clinical studies have demonstrated Botox’s ability to significantly
reduce the frequency of urinary incontinence,” said Hylton V. Joffe,
M.D., director of the Division of Reproductive and Urologic Products in
FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Today’s approval
provides an important additional treatment option for patients with
overactive bladder, a condition that affects an estimated 33 million men
and women in the United States.”

Check with your doc!