Erectile dysfunction new drugs news.

May 1, 2000 (Atlanta) — Move over guys. Another “men only” sign is coming down. Studies reported here at the world’s major urology conference suggest that the revolutionary male impotence drug Viagra may work for the other half of the population, too.

Experts warn that the studies, while interesting, offer no proof whatsoever that Viagra actually helps women. Such proof can be obtained only from larger studies. But two provocative studies of women with female sexual dysfunction show that by several measures, sexual satisfaction improves in some women who take the drug.

Are physicians already offering Viagra cure dysfunction erectile to women? “They certainly can, and they do, and they are now,” the co-author of one of the studies, Jennifer R. Berman, MD, tells WebMD. “There are a number of prescriptions that have been written for women — I don’t have the number, but it is not small,” she says.

Mariann Caprina, spokeswoman for Pfizer, the manufacturer of Viagra, says that more information on women and Viagra may be reported at a medical conference later this month. “Right now, it isn’t indicated for women, and we’re certainly not going to recommend it until we have some data,” she tells WebMD.

Irwin Goldstein, MD, who co-authored the study with Berman, warns that it doesn’t prove anything. He points to a study in Europe in which seven out of 10 women with sexual dysfunction said a pill improved their sex lives. What the women didn’t know was that it was a sugar pill and had no effective ingredients. Goldstein says, “women who have sexual dysfunction in the year 2000 must have a full clinical and psychological evaluation. … By 2005 or 2006 we should understand much more. But we don’t know this yet and to discuss Viagra is premature.”

Laura A. Berman, PhD, Jennifer Berman’s sister and erectile dysfunction help
at Boston University Medical Center, notes that the erectile dysfunction meds
— surgical removal of uterus, or womb — appears to be a risk factor for sexual dysfunction. She says surgeons might cut through as-yet unidentified nerves and/or blood vessels that could be important for sexual arousal. The Bermans, Goldstein, and their colleagues enrolled 35 women, on average about 50 years old, who had hysterectomies at least two years previously. After the operation, these women found they lost much of their ability to feel sexual sensations.

After taking Viagra, these symptoms dramatically improved. Before taking Viagra, all the women reported low sexual sensation and no orgasms. After taking Viagra, 27 of the 35 women had improved sensation and 29 had orgasms. Sexual desire, pain or discomfort during sex, and lubrication of the vagina also improved in more than half the women who took Viagra.

A second, very small study tested Viagra in 16 women with sexual dysfunction. University of Maryland researcher Toby C. Chai, MD, and colleagues used a alternative herbal search viagra
noninvasive device to measure blood flow in the genital area. They then gave the women two identical bottles of three pills — one containing 100 mg Viagra and one containing identical sugar pills — and told them to take one pill at least an hour prior to sex.

The results were dramatic for every measure of sexual function. Viagra improved sexual experience, sensation, and lubrication in 10 of the 16 women, and it increased the ability to achieve orgasm in nine of them. Only one woman said the sugar pills had the same effects. “Some women with sexual dysfunction will respond to Viagra,” Chai tells WebMD. “However, the drug doesn’t seem as effective for women as it does for men.”

Even more important than the Viagra studies — if less dramatic — were several conference reports of studies about what sexual dysfunction in women actually is. Jennifer Berman notes that between 30% and 60% of U.S. women report some form of sexual problem. But whether this represents true dysfunction or just dissatisfaction remains unknown.

“There is a school of thought that says the standards of sexuality in the U.S. are dysfunction pill
, in much the same way that we have an unrealistic standard for body image,” Laura Berman tells WebMD. “That is not to say that there are not many women out there with real problems.” Only now, notes Jennifer Berman, have women felt able to discuss their sexuality with their physicians.

Goldstein notes that scientific study of sexual dysfunction in women began only recently. “We’ve been doing this for two years — a short time,” he says.

A large proportion of sexual dysfunction in men is caused by problems with blood vessels, which inhibit erection. Goldstein notes they don’t see as many of these problems in women. Most female sexual dysfunction is hormonal or caused by problems with the nervous system. Having children can play a role as well, he says. “Postdelivery the vagina recovers from this 10-pound item coming through it, but all functions are not always restored.”