The FDA first approved Invokana as the first SGLT2 drug in March 2013. Since then, it has become a cash cow for J&J and its Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit. In the first quarter of 2015, the drug already brought in $278 million, triple what it made last year.
During contraction, the smooth-muscle cell's intermediate filaments help to draw the cell up, like closing a drawstring purse. Calcium ions regulate contraction in smooth muscle, but they do it in a slightly different way than in skeletal muscle: 1  Calcium ions come from outside of the cell.2  Calcium ions bind to an enzyme complex on myosin, called calmodulin-myosin light chain kinase. Calcium ions come from outside of the cell. 2  Calcium ions bind to an enzyme complex on myosin, called calmodulin-myosin light chain kinase. 3  The enzyme complex breaks up ATP into ADP and transfers the P i directly to myosin. 4  This P i transfer activates myosin.
Smooth muscles are of two major types known as single unit, aka unitary, smooth muscles and multi-unit smooth muscles. The single unit smooth muscles contract and relax together, as the nerve impulse excites only one muscle cell, and that is passed on to other cells through gap junctions. In other words, a unitary smooth muscle functions as a single unit of cytoplasm with numerous nuclei.