"We have a chance to glimpse the future of treatment in sexual dysfunction," James Barada, MD, director of the Centre for Sexual Health in Albany, New York, said at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association in Atlanta.

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Gene therapy for ED
One treatment, said to "border on a cure", makes use of a form of gene therapy called naked DNA. In this therapy, cells are programmed to produce more of a protein that tells smooth muscles to relax.

That is why the treatment, called hMaxi-K, is supposed to help erectile dysfunction, which happens when smooth muscle in the penis won't relax to let blood through, reports WebMD.

In an early study, the treatment was found to be effective and to improve erections in two of 11 subjects.

"With any current erectile dysfunction drug, you have to plan to have sex in order to give the drug time to work. With this, you don't have to plan sex. This lets you get normal erections whenever you are aroused. That is the big advantage," said Arnold Melman, MD, chair of the department of urology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who was presenting the study, WebMD reports.

The therapy may also be used to treat overactive bladder, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, benign prostatic hyperplasia, premature labour, and premenstrual syndrome, the report said.

Other new treatments
A second drug that is causing a stir is called SLx-2101. "Like Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra, it works by inhibiting an enzyme that makes smooth muscles contract," WebMD reports.

What makes SLX-2101 different from the currently available treatments, however, is that it is both fast and long-acting.

A third drug called avanafil reaches maximum blood concentrations within 35 minutes of ingestion. Not only is it fast-acting, but it also seems to pass through the body much faster than current drugs, reports WebMD.

In addition, there are suggestions that avanafil may be more compatible with certain nitrate-based heart drugs. – (Health24)

Visit our Erectile dysfunction Centre for more information.

May 2006
 

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