ABBV AbbVie Inc

By Colin Kellaher

AbbVie Inc.'s Allergan unit Thursday said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the expanded use of Botox to include eight new muscles for the treatment of upper limb spasticity in adults.

Allergan said the approval covers additional muscles of the elbow and forearm, along with intrinsic hand muscles and thumb muscles.

The company said Botox's label now also includes the use of ultrasound as a muscle localization technique in adult spasticity, which is commonly caused by stroke, multiple sclerosis, spinal-cord injury, cerebral palsy and traumatic brain injury.

Botox, which the FDA first approved in 1989 for a pair of rare eye muscle disorders, is currently FDA-approved for a dozen therapeutic indications.

AbbVie, a North Chicago, Ill., biopharmaceutical company, completed its roughly $63 billion acquisition of Allergan last year.

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 29, 2021 09:03 ET (13:03 GMT)

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