Future perspective in pharmacological treatment options for overactive bladder syndrome

Antimuscarinic medications dominate the first-line pharmacological treatment of overactive bladder (OAB). However, limitations of tolerability profiles and efficacy of antimuscarinics, together with the increasing prevalence of OAB and growing knowledge of its pathophysiology fuelled a huge amount of basic and clinical research in this field of pharmacotherapy. Several exiting hypothesis-driven pharmacological approaches for the future treatment of OAB have been suggested in the last few years and are discussed in the present article. Many investigational compounds, mostly ligands of key receptors involved in nervous system and molecular pathways controlling the micturition reflex, are in the pipeline of several pharmacological companies with promising preliminary results. Nevertheless, only a few of the novel molecules under investigation have passed the proof-of-concept stage of development and may have a therapeutic potential for the future treatment of OAB. © Touch Medical Media 2012.