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Biotech / Medical : PFE (Pfizer) How high will it go? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (5851)	10/8/1998 12:56:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 9523

10/07 19:51 Sex medicine specialists ponder life beyond Viagra By Andrew Quinn SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Is there treatment beyond Viagra? Doctors and sex therapists at a major world meeting on reproductive medicine said on Wednesday the answer was definitely yes -- and that the "miracle pill" for male impotence marked just one step in men's battle for better sex lives. "I don't think it is a perfect pill, but I think it is a huge leap forward," said Larry Lipshultz of Houston's Baylor College of Medicine. "But patients are very anxious for something that is much faster absorbed, and doesn't take so much advance planning." Viagra, manufactured by Pfizer Inc <PFE.N>, took off fast after it was launched on the U.S. market in March. Pfizer says worldwide some three million men have been prescribed approximately 35 million Viagra tablets. Delegates to a joint meeting of the 16th World Congress on Fertility and Sterility and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine said there was no doubt that Viagra had radically overhauled the treatment options for men with erection problems. But they quickly added that new drugs in the development pipeline, along with older treatment methods and the importance of psychological counseling, meant that Viagra alone was not the final word in treating male sexual dysfunction. "While we can give medications and create an erection, this in itself does not solve the physio-sexual problems of a couple," said Douglas Lording of Cabrini Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Erection problems are estimated to effect about one out of three men over the age of 40, or as many as 15 million men in the United States alone. For decades, it was a problem almost never discussed outside the confines of the bedroom -- if even there. But beginning some ten years ago, doctors began pioneering medical treatment of erectile dysfunction with "penile injection therapy", in which patients inject their own penises with drugs aimed at promoting the blood flow which leads to erection. Lording said penile injection had been shown effective on some 70 percent of men brave enough to try it, and that it remains favored even by some Viagra patients, who say they like the immediate and obvious results. But the hair-raising image of penile injection therapy, coupled with the embarrassment many men feel about erectile dysfunction, meant that in the pre-Viagra era few men actually sought medical help for their problem, Lording said. Another subsequent treatment which involved using a tiny plunger to literally shove pellets of erection drugs such as alprostadil into the penis were not much more successful, and the treatment world remained lackluster until this year when Viagra hit the market. "The biggest impact on the treatment of erectile dysfunction has been the pill," said Lipshultz, who will take over as president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine this year. But he added that as treatment broadens to cover more men, more suggestions were coming from patients about how to improve the medical approach to their problem. One complaint, Lipshultz said, was that the forethought involved in Viagra -- which can take up to four hours to reach its full effectiveness -- removes spontaneity. "You have to plan a little bit ahead...they don't like that," Lipshultz said. Another complaint was that, unlike injection therapy, Viagra alone does not guarantee an erection. There must be some sexual stimulus, adding another potential stumbling block. Two new drugs under development may address these complaints, he said. Vasomax, a form of phentolamine made by Texas-based Zonagen Inc <ZONA.O>., could be delivered orally and take effect within 15 minutes, he said. Vasomax has been accepted for review by the Food and Drug Administration and could be available as early as next summer. Another drug, apomorphine, is also being studied as a possible potency potion -- one which would address the problem of failed erections through the central nervous system. moneynet.com@NEWS-P1&Index=0&HeadlineURL=../News/NewsHeadlines.asp&DISABLE_FORM=&NAVSVC=News\Company