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Oct. 10, 2003 — Move over Viagra. Men now have a choice when it comes to drug treatments for erectile pills
, and it seems that the newest therapy may be the best option for some.
The newly approved drug Levitra was found to work in many men who did not respond to Viagra in a study funded by Levitra manufacturers Bayer AG and Treat erectile dysfunction the best, a WebMD sponsor.
The men included in the new study were identified as Viagra nonresponders after failing to achieve successful erections while taking Viagra during at least four of their six most recent sexual attempts. Participants were randomized to receive either Levitra or placebo. After 12 weeks, men were three times more likely to complete sexual affiliate herbal viagra
successfully on Levitra than on placebo. While more than 40% of men who took Levitra achieved an erection only 16% of men who took a placebo were able to do so.
The findings are the first to show that Levitra can help men with erectile dysfunction who are not helped by Viagra, says researcher Culley C. Carson, III, MD. Carson is scheduled present the finding Saturday in Denver at a meeting of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America.
More Potent Than Viagra?
Levitra hit the market with a vengeance in August, acquiring close to 50% of the market share for newly treated patients within less than a month. Laboratory studies suggest that the new drug may be more potent than the older Viagra and may also have a better side effect profile, but no head-to-head clinical studies have been done to prove this.
“If you’re asking me which drug is better, there is no way I can answer,” says urologist Irwin Goldstein, MD, who is one of the nation’s leading impotence erectile dysfunction drugs
.
Goldstein was not involved with the latest study, but had conducted research on Viagra, Levitra, and another erectile dysfunction drug that is expected to win FDA approval later this year, Eli Lilly’s Cialis.
He tells WebMD that while there is, as yet, no clearly superior drug among the three, patients will benefit from having more than one drug to choose from.
“As a clinician I really drug dysfunction erectile
the fact that men now have choices,” he says. “Viagra has helped a lot of people. But just as there are plenty of men who have done well on it, there are plenty of others who have not responded.”
Good Sex
“One message here is that men who have failed Viagra should certainly try this drug,” urologist and study co-author Myron Murdoch, MD, tells WebMD. “But another message is that even men who are taking Viagra may see a benefit. They may think they are getting an optimal sexual response but they really don’t know, because they haven’t had anything to compare it with.”
Meanwhile experts say it is also important for men with erectile dysfunction — often an embarrassing problem — to speak up.
“Now more than ever it is important for men with sexual problems to talk about them with their doctors,” he says. “We now have a choice in the tools we can use to help patients. There is no reason to suffer in silence.”
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SOURCES: 5TH Annual Fall Research Meeting of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America (SMSNA), Denver, Oct. 11, 2003. Culley C. Carson, III, MD, president, SMSNA; chief, urology department, University of North Carolina Hospitals, Chapel Hill, N.C. Irwin Goldstein, MD, professor, urology department, Boston University School of Medicine. Myron Murdoch, MD, urologist; consultant, Levitra manufacturer.
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