Patients treated with Toviaz (fesoterodine fumarate) 8 mg extended release tablets had greater and statistically significant reductions in urge urinary incontinence episodes at week 12 (P=0.017) compared with Detrol LA (tolterodine tartrate extended release capsules) in a placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial. The primary endpoint of the study was reductions in urge urinary incontinence episodes. This new study, published in the January issue of BJU International, is the first head-to-head superiority trial specifically designed to compare the two medications.

When looking at prespecified secondary endpoints, patients treated with Toviaz 8 mg had a significantly greater increase in the average volume of urine voided per micturition from baseline to week 12 compared with those who received Detrol LA (P=0.005). The differences between Toviaz 8 mg and Detrol LA in urinary frequency (P=0.380) and urgency episodes (P=0.054) were not statistically significant.

“This is the first clinical trial that has been designed to assess the superiority of an antimuscarinic agent for the treatment of overactive bladder. This new data provides important information to physicians making treatment decisions for patients with overactive bladder since it compares two available medicines. This study showed that Toviaz 8 mg was significantly more efficacious than Detrol LA in treating urge urinary incontinence,” said lead author Dr Sender Herschorn, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto.

Toviaz is an US FDA-approved, once-daily prescription treatment for patients with symptoms of overactive bladder.

Established in 1929, BJU International is published 23 times a year by Wiley-Blackwell and edited by professor John Fitzpatrick from Mater Misericordiae University Hospital and University College Dublin, Ireland.