Manufacturer Astella has launched a combination drug in the UK to treat moderate to severe lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in men who are unresponsive to monotherapy.

Vesomni delivers a once-daily fixed dose of the antimuscarinic solifenacin (6mg) and alpha blocker tamsulosin (0.4mg) to men with bladder storage and obstruction symptoms associated with prostate problems, the manufacturer said last week (January 22).

The launch came in response to a study published in the European Urology journal in August last year that found a combination of an antimuscarinic and alpha blocker improved LUTS in men with bladder problems, when compared with solo tamsulosin oral treatment. It also increased patients' quality of life, it found.

Consultant urological surgeon Marcus Drake  said men with LUTS could be managed in the community, but most were not receiving optimal treatment	More on LUTS 10 things you need to know about LUTS and OTC tamsulosin Benign prostatic hyperplasia Counterculture 32: A Man's problem
	Marcus Drake, consultant urological surgeon at Southmead Hospital in Bristol, said men with LUTS could be "effectively managed" in the community, but most were not receiving optimal treatment to address all their urinary problems. He said Vesomni offered a new avenue for patients where monotherapy had failed.

Up to 90 per cent of men aged between 50 and 80 years suffer from LUTS, but only 6 per cent receive combination therapy, according to Astella.

Most men with LUTS had not received adequate care because they delayed seeing a healthcare professional, believing symptoms were a side-effect of ageing, or had previously been misdiagnosed, it said.