Botox treatment lifts depression in half of study patients

Emerging uses of FDA approved drugs – by Bruce Sylvester – Over half of depressed subjects in a newly reported study who were injected with onabotulinumtoxinA (OBA/Botox) achieved substantial improvement in depressive symptoms. The study was published in the May edition of the Journal of Psychiatric Research. It is the largest randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study to date on the effect of OBA on depression.

“This new research supports earlier facial feedback theory of Charles Darwin and William James which suggests that facial expressions influence mood,” said investigator Eric Finzi, MD, a dermatologist and plastic surgeon in Greenbelt, MD and Chevy Chase, Maryland. In a pilot study published by the American Society of Dermatologic Surgery in May 2006, Dr. Finzi first reported that inhibition of frowning by facial injection of OBA appeared to help improve the symptoms of depressed patients.

The investigators enrolled 74 depressed subjects injected with a single treatment of either onabotulinumtoxinA (OBA) or a placebo to the corrugator and procerus muscles between the eyebrows.

They reported that 52% subjects suffering from moderate to severe depression achieved a substantial improvement (greater than or equal to 50% of baseline) in their depressive symptoms, as measured by the standard MADRS scale.

Total depressive symptoms (as assessed by the MADRS scale) in the OBA-treated group decreased 47 percent after six weeks, compared to 21 percent in the placebo group.

This is the first study to report a significant difference in remission rate with OBA treatment in depressed patients (27% OBA vs. 7% placebo).

Study co-author,Norman Rosenthal, MD, Ph.D, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown Medical School, said, “This research is groundbreaking because it offers those who suffer from depression and their doctors an entirely new approach to treating the condition – one that doesn’t conflict with any other treatments.”