Final Testing Set for Pill to Help Men Who Are Impotent
A pill that restores full function to impotent men is now in the final phases of clinical testing and could be offered for sale in the United States late next year, a British scientist says.
The drug sildenfil blocks the action of an enzyme in the penis that tends to aggravate impotence, said Dr. Ian Osterloh, a researcher for Pfizer Inc. in Britain.
“The pill is taken an hour or so before it is needed,” said Osterloh. “It will do nothing, however, in the absence of sexual stimulation.”
Reports on clinical studies of the drug will be given today at a meeting in Orlando, Fla., of the American Urological Assn.
Osterloh said that in studies of hundreds of patients in Europe, the drug helped many men perform who had been impotent for years.
In one study of 42 patients, all with impotence for at least three years, 92% reported significantly improved performance during the days they were on the pill.
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