Botox effective for overactive bladder: study

The popular wrinkle treatment Botox may have more than just cosmetic applications for people with a far more pressing quality of life issue than a wish to present an unfurrowed brow in public.

Botox, or botulinum-A toxin, was highly effective in treating patients with severe overactive bladder in a clinical trial and the desired effect lasted for months, according to results presented by researchers at a meeting of the American Urological Association in Atlanta on Sunday.

Allergan Inc., which sells Botox, did not sponsor the study, which was conducted independently by researchers in urology. An Allergan spokeswoman said the company has been “seeing very positive and encouraging trends” in the use of Botox for overactive bladder in its own clinical studies.

She said Allergan is proceeding with enrollment in mid- and late-stage clinical trials of the drug as a treatment for the disorder, but does not expect to see it gain U.S. approval for that use until 2010.

In the study of 150 patients suffering from severe overactive bladder, 88 percent of those injected with Botox showed a statistically significant improvement in bladder function, researchers concluded.

Urgency to urinate completely disappeared in 76 percent of patients and incontinence disappeared in 82 percent within two weeks, according to the results.

Patients suffering from overactive bladder received 100 IU of Botox injected into the detrusor, the muscle that controls bladder function.

Effectiveness of duration was a mean 9 months and after 11 months 23 percent of patients were reinjected after the desired effect had diminished, researchers said.

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