[5] Originally marketed by Ferring Pharmaceuticals, it is licensed in proprietary and generic forms for the delay of imminent preterm birth in pregnant adult women.

Atosiban is useful in improving the pregnancy outcome of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) in patients with repeated implantation failure.

From 2004 to 2010, 33 first-trimester pregnancies with vaginal bleeding after ART with evident uterine contractions, when using atosiban and/or ritodrine, no preterm delivery occurred before 30 weeks.

[11] It was understood that Ferring did not expect to seek approval for atosiban in the US or Japan, focusing instead on development of new compounds for use in Spontaneous Preterm Labor (SPTL).

[11] The fact that atosiban only had a short duration before it was out of patent that the parent drug company decided not to pursue licensing in the US.

[13] A 2014 systematic review by the Cochrane Collaboration showed that while atosiban had fewer side effects than alternative drugs (such as ritodrine), other beta blockers, and calcium channel antagonists, it was no better than placebo in the major outcomes i.e. pregnancy prolongation or neonatal outcomes.

[16] Forty-eight (68.6%) women allocated to atosiban and 39 (52%) to nifedipine did not deliver and did not require an alternate agent at 48 hours, respectively (p=.03).

[16] A 2009 randomised controlled study demonstrated for the first time the direct effects of atosiban on fetal movement, heart rate, and blood flow.

[17] Tocolysis with either atosiban or nifedipine combined with betamethasone administration had no direct fetal adverse effects.