Intra-articular Botulinum Toxin Type A: a new approach to treat arthritis joint pain.

There is a growing need for novel treatments of refractory arthritis joint pain as the aging population is expanding with many patients who are unable to undergo joint replacement surgery. We are studying the efficacy and safety of intra-articular injection of Botulinum Toxin Type A (IA-BoNT/A) into joints with arthritis pain. In several small open label studies, initial effects for IA-BoNT/A were encouraging because two thirds of the patients had more than 50% reduction in joint pain severity that was associated with a significant improvement in function.