Astellas launches overactive bladder therapy Betmiga in UK

Astellas has announced the UK launch of Betmiga, a new once-daily therapy for adult patients with overactive bladder (OAB).

The therapy is intended for the symptomatic treatment of urgency, increased micturition frequency and/or urgency incontinence among OAB sufferers and is the first in a new class of treatments called beta 3-adrenoceptor agonists.

It works by stimulating the beta 3 receptors in the detrusor muscle of the bladder to relax the bladder muscle during the storage phase of the micturition cycle, helping to increase capacity without inhibiting bladder voiding.

Betmiga will offer a potentially effective alternative to antimuscarinic therapies, which are associated with low rates of adherence due their frequent lack of efficacy or intolerable side effects.

Professor Chris Chapple, consultant urological surgeon at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, said: "I would suggest clinicians consider new treatment options for their OAB patients moving forward, taking advantage of the new and innovative options available."

The drug was approved by the European Commission last month and represents the first new class of treatment to go on sale for OAB in Europe for more than 30 years.