Botulinum Toxin Type B

I missed your post the first time...probably because I didn't attend this presentation I'll describe until two days after you posted.

I've belonged to an Spasmodic Torticollis (cervical dystonia) support group here in the SF Bay Area for almost two years (I'm involved with an SD-one also but serve as a "driver" to get some folks with cervical dystonia to their meetings so, that's the deal on that...they welcome me always). This past week-end, our quarterly-meeting hosted a representative from Athena Neurosciences (division of Elan Pharmaceuticals) speaking about, and providing medical research literature on, MYOBLOC (previously known as "Neurobloc"). MYOBLOC is the US trade name for "botulinum toxin - type B."

The presentation was an hour and I asked alot of questions. The rep knew her stuff. You are correct in that the initial marketing and the major medical study published on the safety of this drug are directed at torticollis patients. But, the questions I asked the rep were all related to SD-specialists in the SF Bay Area who may be starting to use MYOBLOC and the effectiveness for vocal patients. I believe they did all the initial work on behalf of ST patients because those patients require much more serum for their treatments than SD patients require (so "drug-safety" is a larger issue) but MYOBLOC is equally effective for vocal patients. It's just a matter of finding a specialist to administer it.

There are several advantages to MYOBLOC. One is the information you mention. Type-A and type-B are two totally different protein serums so, in the event of immunity to type-A, type-B is like starting over with antibodies. Neither would cause immunity to the other. I personally know at least three people who have become immune to Botox so this is a real opportunity for them.

Other advantages are the way the drug is constituted (making it more stable) and the safety-factor. MYOBLOC was under test-conditions for over 10 years (so, from what I understand, it could have been released immediately after type-A but went into a longer test phase). I'm a neophyte on such things as FDA approvals but that sounded like a plus to me.

Also, there are people out in the cervical dystonia community who have been serving in this long study for many years. I am wondering if anyone out in "SD-land" has been part of the study. Maybe not, because of what I said above. However, if anyone starts using MYOBLOC, I hope they will post their results to this BB so that everyone can learn more.