Early development history of Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA)

Alan B Scott; Dennis Honeychurch; Mitchell F Brin

doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000032371

Early development history of Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA)

Medicine (Baltimore). 2023 Jul 1;102(S1):e32371. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000032371.

Authors

Alan B Scott¹, Dennis Honeychurch², Mitchell F Brin^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Strabismus Research Foundation, San Francisco, CA, USAdeceased.
² US Naval Hospital Oakland, CA, USAretired.
³ Allergan/AbbVie, Irvine, CA, USA.
⁴ University of California, Irvine, CA, USA.

Abstract

The development of Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA) began in the 1970s as Dr. Scott was attempting to identify an injectable substance that would weaken the extraocular eye muscles in patients with strabismus as an alternative to muscle surgery. This search led to botulinum toxin type A, which was tested and developed over the next 15 years. As botulinum toxin type A moved from an experimental drug to a product in need of licensing by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the first manufacturing methods and quality control procedures were developed for Oculinum, the botulinum toxin type A product that would eventually be sold to Allergan and become known as Botox.

MeSH terms

Botulinum Toxins, Type A* / therapeutic use
Humans
Neuromuscular Agents* / therapeutic use
Oculomotor Muscles
Strabismus*
United States
United States Food and Drug Administration

Substances

Botulinum Toxins, Type A
Neuromuscular Agents