Abstract
Preterm birth is the major cause of perinatal mortality and morbidity in the developed world, imposing a huge burden on healthcare costs. Tocolytic drugs inhibit contractions and delay delivery in the hope of improving survival and preventing handicap. Historically, most tocolytics were not initially developed to treat preterm labor, and so are not uterospecific and have multiorgan side effects. Atosiban (Tractocile®) is a vasopressin-oxytocin receptor antagonist, which is much more uterospecific than previous tocolytics, and, consequently has placebo-level side effects. Atosiban has a strong evidence base and is a significant addition to the treatment options for preterm labor and should be used for first-line therapy.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Ferring International, Switzerland for their help in supplying data for the sections on Chemistry, Regulatory Affairs and Pharmacovigilance. We are also grateful to Pauline Mills for her work in preparing the manuscript.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
Ronald F Lamont has given advice and lectured and chaired sessions at conferences organized by Ferring for which he has occasionally received an honorarium. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.