Table 1
The Historical Timelines on Emergence of Botulinum Toxin as a Therapeutic Agent
| 1817–1822 | Observations and seminal writings of Justinus Kerner on symptoms of botulism outbreaks in Germany |
| 1897 | Emile Van Ermengem finds the responsible agent for botulism and calls it bacillus botulinum |
| 1924 | The name clostridium botulinum was introduced by Ida Bengton |
| 1942–1946 | Carl Lamanna and Edward Schantz purify the toxin and prepare it in crystalline form |
| 1946 | Schantz produces a large amount of this toxin and makes it available for clinical research |
| 1964–1966 | Drachman demonstrates the paralytic effects of botulinum toxin and its physiology in an animal model (chicks embryos) |
| Late 1960s to early 1970s | Allen Scott an ophthalmologist, further studies the paralytic effects of the botulinum toxin in primates |
| 1973 | Scott publishes the first paper on weakening of extraocular muscles of monkeys |
| 1979 | FDA approves conducting research with botulinum toxin in human subject |
| 1989 | FDA Approves, Allergan’s Oculinum (later called Botox, onabotulinum toxin A) for treatment of strabismus, blepharospasm and hemifacial spasm |
Table 2
First Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Studies with Botulinum Toxins in Movement Disorders
| Movement Disorder | Authors | Year | Type of Toxin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cervical dystonia | Tsui et al.31 | 1986 | OnabotulinumtoxinA |
| Blepharospasm | Jankovic and Orman15 | 1987 | OnabotulinumtoxinA |
| Hemifacial spasm | Yoshimura et al.38 | 1992 | OnabotulinumtoxinA |
| Task-specific dystonia | Cole et al.40 | 1995 | OnabotulinumtoxinA |
| Essential tremor | Jankovic and Schwartz48 | 1996 | OnabotulinumtoxinA |
| Simple motor tics | Marras et al.59 | 2001 | OnabotulinumtoxinA |
| Rest tremor | Shivam et al.53 | 2016 | IncobotulinumtoxinA |