No cracks about the animal experiments, please....
Oct. 4, 2000--VIVUS, Inc. (Nasdaq:VVUS - news) today announced that the Company has been awarded Patent No. 6,127,363, entitled, ``Local Administration of Type IV Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors for the Treatment of Erectile Dysfunction,'' by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. This patent provides VIVUS with broad patent protection for commercializing local delivery of PDE4 inhibitors for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED).
This is the second patent issued to VIVUS for the use of phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitors in the local treatment of ED. The first was a patent issued in March 2000 for PDE5 inhibitors, a class of PDE inhibitors that includes sildenafil citrate, commonly known as Viagra.
``PDE4 inhibitors show the same potency in animal models as PDE5 inhibitors, however, their actual benefit may be in limiting the cardiovascular side effects seen with other PDE inhibitors,'' said Leland F. Wilson, President and CEO of VIVUS, Inc. ``This patent further broadens and strengthens our technology position for local treatment of ED.''
The patent also covers the combination of PDE4 inhibitors with other active agents, such as prostaglandins and alpha-blockers, as well as methods of administration, including transurethral, topical, intracavernosal or transdermal, for the treatment of ED. Animal studies conducted at Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, and published in the November 1999 Journal of Urology, have demonstrated the combination of alprostadil and PDE inhibitors delivered transurethrally was as effective as a needle injection of a ``triple-mix'' (alprostadil, phentolamine and papaverine) into the penis for producing erections.... |
