A drug being developed by a California company was shown in a trial to be effective in 30 minutes or less, much faster than its competitors, the maker of treatments for erectile dysfunctions claimed today.
Reuters reports that Vivus Inc.'s 646-patient trial found that about three-quarters of patients taking either 100 milligrams or 200 milligrams of the drug Avanafil had erections sufficient for intercourse. Fifty-seven percent experienced "successful intercourse," compared with 27 percent of placebo patients.
Avanafil, works by inhibiting the PDE5 enzyme, the same target as New York-based Pfizer Inc.'s Viagra and Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co.'s Cialis. But Vivus said its treatment is designed to act faster than the two other drugs.
Vivus Chief Executive Leland Wilson said Viagra is labeled for a 60-minute time, and Cialis' time-to-onset is two hours.
Sales of erectile dysfunction therapies total more than $3.5 billion a year.
Mountain View, Calif.-based Vivus develops and manufactures therapeutic systems to treat erectile dysfunctions, according to Morningstar financial resource. The company's MUSE product, which treats impotence, topically delivers pharmacologic agents to enhance blood flow to the penis. In addition, Vivus markets its ACTIS product, which temporarily corrects venous leak, a cause of erectile dysfunction. The company markets its products in the United States and overseas through a direct sales force and distributors.
Lilly today disputed Vivus' comments that Cialis takes two hours to work. Cialis often works in 30 minutes or less, the company said, pointing to prescribing information it gives to doctors based on clinical trials.
According to that information, 38 percent of patients taking 10 milligrams of Cialis could achieve at least one erection in four attempts within 30 minutes. When the dose was increased to 20 milligrams, about 52 percent of patients saw the same result.
"The reference to two hours means the time for maximum concentration of the drug in the bloodstream, not the efficacy of the drug," Lilly spokeswoman Keri McGrath said.
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