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Test
Drug Decreases
Impotency in Diabetics
Excerpt
By Robert Preidt, HealthScoutNews
(HealthScoutNews)
-- An experimental drug for impotency helps men with diabetes
improve their erections, a new study says.
The first
Phase III trial results for vardenafil showed improved erectile
function in 72 percent of patients with Type I and Type II diabetes.
Men with diabetes are three times more likely to have problems
with erections because of complications related to the disease.
About 7.5
million American men have diabetes. And between 50 and 60 percent
of men over age 50 who have diabetes have problems with impotency.
The study
included 452 diabetic men who were 18 and older and who had had
mild to severe erectile problems for at least six months. The
men were divided into three groups and given either a 10 milligram
(mg.) or 20 mg. pill of the drug vardenafil or a placebo.
In the group
that received the 20 mg. doses, 72 percent reported a significant
improvement in their erections, compared to 57 percent in the
10 mg. group and 13 percent in the placebo group.
Also, 64 percent
of the men who received the 20 mg. doses reported erections hard
enough for penetration; 54 percent were able to maintain erections
to successfully complete intercourse. That compared to 36 percent
and 23 percent, respectively, for the placebo group.
The most commonly
reported side effects included headaches, flushing and nasal congestion.
The men in
the study kept a diary of their intercourse attempts. After four
weeks and again at the end of 12 weeks, the men were asked if
treatment had improved their erections over the previous four
weeks.
Along with
the diary, the men were evaluated using a standard sexual function
questionnaire used by urologists. It includes questions ranging
from the ability to achieve and maintain erections to the completion
of sexual intercourse.
The study
was presented at the recent annual American Diabetes Association
Scientific Sessions.
Vardenafil
is made by Bayer, which plans to submit the drug for Food and
Drug Administration approval later this year.
"It's
a better Viagra. I don't know how else to say it," says Dr.
Irwin Goldstein, a professor of urology at the Boston University
School of Medicine and a member of the International Vardenafil
Study Group.
Although it
works much the same as Viagra, vardenafil is more potent and requires
lower dosages, Goldstein says. While Viagra doses are 50 to 100
mgs., the vardenafil dosage range is between 5 and 20 mgs.
Vardenafil
offers diabetic men another choice, Goldstein adds.
"Viagra
is unique in that it's the only pill for its field. There's no
other choice for a patient. We have plenty of patients who do
relatively well on Viagra, and we have a group of patients who
don't do relatively well and would like a better, stronger agent,"
he says.
Dr. Ira Sharlip,
president of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America, says
vardenafil seems effective and has great potential. But it is
difficult to say how it compares to Viagra, he adds.
"The
only way to make a valid judgment is to do a head-to-head study
-- you compare the two directly. If you don't do that, then you're
always dealing with slightly different patient populations, and
you can't draw absolutely firm conclusions," Sharlip says.
What to
Do: It's estimated that more than 30 million American men
suffer from some form of impotence. For more information, go to
the Impotence
Institute of America, or the National
Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases.
Reference
Source 101
For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use
PreventDisease.com's "Quick
Prevention Resources".
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