Urinary urge incontinence

Abstract

Urinary incontinence, the involuntary loss of urine, is a prevalent medical condition that affects men, women and children of all ages. However, the incidence of incontinence tends to increase with age and it is particularly widespread in the elderly. Four major categories of incontinence have been defined: urge incontinence, stress incontinence, overflow incontinence and functional incontinence. Urinary urge incontinence (UUI) is the largest category affecting both men and women and is also the most amenable to pharmacological intervention. A large number of patients suffer from this condition (ca. 20 million). However, existing pharmaceutical agents for the treatment of UUI either lack efficacy or are poorly tolerated and, consequently, the condition is poorly controlled. Thus, there is a high medical need for efficacious, well-tolerated drugs to treat this condition. The commercial potential for novel, effective agents is considerable, given the number of patients involved and the growth associated wit...