Allergan Makes News

As you may have seen in the news, Allergan Inc. recently agreed to pay $600 million in a settlement with the U.S. Government to resolve criminal and civil allegations that it encouraged doctors to use its wrinkle smoothing drug BOTOX® for uses that the Food and Drug Administration had not yet authorized, such as treating headaches and pain. It isn’t unusual that doctors will use drugs for “off-label” purposes or purposes that have not been approved by the FDA. This is one way in which new scientific advances are discovered. Companies are not allowed, however, to knowingly promote these alternative uses.

Interestingly enough, Allergan Inc. reported recently that the UK’s drug regulators became the first in the world to approve BOTOX® for the use in the prevention of chronic migraine headaches. This might speed up the decision process for the use of BOTOX® for migraines in the US. It is already approved for treating severe underarm sweating, muscle spasms in the neck, and upper-limb spasticity, in addition to wrinkle smoothing.