The New York Times reported on the front page of its Sunday Business section that “some health advocates worry that doctors are widely adopting novel uses for Botox” even before “clinical trials and government approval have established safe doses for new indications – and without definitive proof that the new treatments work.” The Times added, “Botox is so widely adopted in medicine – and ingrained in popular culture – that some doctors don’t think that novel uses are experiments.” Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe, the director of the health research group at Public Citizen, called it “trial and error with a nerve poison.” Meanwhile, “with the popularization of new medical uses, therapeutic applications of the drug are poised to outstrip the cosmetic treatment in both revenue and prominence” even as, “in the hunt to discover the next blockbuster medical use for Botox, doctors have injected it experimentally into muscles and glands all over the body.”
From the American Association for Justice news release.