GENEVA, 27 April — New hope is emerging for men suffering from erectile dysfunction. A new drug, UPRIMA, for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED), is expected to become available in European Union countries in May and in the Middle East sometime in June. This was made public at the XVIth Congress of the European Association of Urology (EAU).
UPRIMA has been developed and manufactured by the pharmacology giant, Abbott Laboratories. The drug received a positive report from the Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products (CPMP) in January. “UPRIMA works rapidly, on the average in 20 minutes, compared to 30-60 minutes for Viagra which is presently the most common treatment for ED”, said Prof. Jeremy Heaton of Queen’s University and Kingston General Hospital, Ontario, Canada. “The main benefit of this speed is increased spontaneity for men and their spouses,” he said.
It is a dopamine receptor agent that enhances the natural erectile signal from the brain to the penis. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a significant role in regulating erections. The natural, centrally acting mode of action of UPRIMA is different from Viagra, which acts locally by blocking the breakdown of certain enzymes involved in the erectile response. The efficacy of UPRIMA was evaluated by collecting data from both patients and their spouses. Results showed that partner responses mirrored the information reported by patients treated with UPRIMA, a further validating of the effectiveness of UPRIMA. The tolerability and safety of the drug has been demonstrated in extensive and rigorous trials involving 5,000 men and more than 120,000 patient doses. The recommended UPRIMA dosing options of 2 mg and 3 dm provide an optimal balance of efficacy and tolerability. In clinical trials using the recommended doses, the most commonly reported side effects were nausea, headache and dizziness. These were generally mild and transient in nature. “UPRIMA is a well-tolerated drug at the recommended doses, with a vast majority of patients finding it easy to take with few side effects,” said Prof. Udo Jonas, of the University of Hannover Medical School, Germany. Erectile dysfunction is a significant and increasingly common disorder. In 1995, there were over 30 million men with ED in Europe and more that 140 million worldwide with numbers expected to increase worldwide.
