UPDATE - Issue 23 - Autumn 2005
BPH Good News
BPH or benign prostatic hyperplasia is the enlargement of the prostate gland that obstructs the bladder and impairs urination. It affects around one in five men aged 50-59, rising to one in three in the over-60s.
Astellas (the name of the merged Japanese companies Fujisawa and Yamanouchi) has just launched Flowmaxtratra XL, an improved treatment for the symptoms of BPH.
Flowmaxtratra XL releases its active ingredient, tamsulosin, more consistently over 24 hours than its predecessor. This helps reduce the need for patients to urinate during the night. As a recent NOP survey of over 200 GPs revealed that 93% of their patients reported this inconvenient symptom as one of the top three most bothersome aspects of BPH this must be good news.
new treatments alleviate bothersome conditions
Other companies are hot on the heels of Astellas in what is a massive market for drug companies. The US Nymox Pharmaceuticals, for example, hopes soon to market its promising NX-1207 drug, which has shown significant symptom improvement without side effects.
Meanwhile, patients whose condition is not controlled by drugs and degenerates into acute urinary retention should be encouraged by a recently published report of 164 men treated with laser therapy (HoLEP). All of the patients recovered their urinary function, even though all were in urinary retention prior to HoLEP and many had poor bladder function. Additionally, all of the men remain catheter free. This has now become the treatment to choose if you are suffering from this unpleasant condition.