ABSTRACT
Botulinum type A neurotoxin is available in the United States and Europe to treat a variety of neuromuscular disorders of spasm, spasticity, and muscular rigidity. While BOTOX® has been manufactured and studied in the US since 1985, Dysport® has been studied in Europe since 1988. Manufactured by Ipsen Pharmaceutical in the United Kingdom, the toxin is produced from incubator vats of Clostridium botulinum separated from the North American product. The final Clostridium botulinum toxin type A hemagglutinin complex from European vats -Dysport®—thus has distinct attributes and characteristics different from that of its North American cousin, BOTOX®1. (Table 8.1) The molecular weight of the toxin is the same (150 kDa) as well as the bulk active substrate of the hemagglutinin complex. However, the pharmacologic composition differs in that Dysport® is accompanied by 125 µg human serum albumin with 2.5 mg lactose, while BOTOX® has 500 ug human serum albumin in 0.9 mg sodium chloride2. Dysport® is currently registered in 60 countries worldwide, including all European Union countries, and is currently under investigation in the United States.
