Reloxin® & Dysport®

It seems as though Botox Cosmetic® is finally going to have some competition. While you may not have heard of Reloxin® just yet, you probably will soon enough, as enthusiasm for Reloxin® is rapidly growning.

Reloxin® is currently marketed and sold in over 60 countries under the trade name Dysport® for various therapeutic indications such as cervical dystonia (a relatively rare disorder in which the head twists and turns into abnormal postures as a result of painful, uncontrollable muscular contraction) and is approved in nine countries for cosmetic uses.

Botox®, Dysport® and Reloxin® are all injectable forms of botulinum toxin Type A. Just like Botox®, small doses of Reloxin® are injected into targeted wrinkle-causing muscles preventing the muscle from contracting and effectively reducing the wrinkle's appearance. Reloxin® has similar properties and lasts about as long as Botox®, which can be anywhere from two to six months.

It is not clear as to when Reloxin® will be available in the United States. Initially Allergan® (the company that sells Botox®) merged with a company called Inamed®. Inamed® had the rights to sell Reloxin® in the United States when Reloxin® gets approved. As a result of that merger, anti-trust laws forced Inamed® to let go of its marketing rights for Reloxin®. The U.S. marketing rights to Reloxin® were then sold to Medicis®. With any luck Medicis® will be able to sell Reloxin® in the United States sometime in 2008.

Potential side effects of Reloxin® include local numbness, swelling, bruising or a burning sensation during injection. Some patients have also reported temporary headache and nausea. Still, most complications of Reloxin® do not last long and can be avoided with proper injection techniques.

Like Botox®, there is no downtime with Reloxin®. You can go back to work immediately after treatment with Reloxin®.

One possible benefit of Reloxin® is that it may be less expensive than Botox®. If that is the case, then Allergan® may need to drop the price of Botox® to compete. That would be very good news for patients!