Other
Good Things About Viagra
June 19, 2006
As Chinese companies challenge
the Viagra patent, research suggests ED drugs
fight cardiovascular disease.
As a new study reported many positive side
effects of erectile dysfunction drugs, a dozen
Chinese drug companies announced Monday they
will appeal a court decision to protect Pfizer’s
Viagra patent in China.
Since Pfizer gained a Chinese patent for Viagra
in 2001, it has received strong competition
from Chinese companies such as Guangzhou Baiyunshan
Medical Technology Development and Chongqing
Kangerwei Pharmaceutical.
The appeal attempts to undo a decision taken
earlier this month which re-validated Pfizer’s
patent for the main ingredient in its little
blue pill.
Meanwhile, new findings may encourage sales
of erectile
dysfunction drugs, increasing the stakes
of the legal proceedings.
A review of medical research on the drugs conducted
by scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
in Los Angeles has found they produce mostly
positive effects in the body other than those
for which they were intended.
The three ED drugs on the market - Pfizer’s
Viagra, GlaxoSmithKline’s Levitra, and
Eli Lilly’s Cialis - all interfere with
the action of an enzyme called phosphodiesterase-5.
They seem to help in many medical conditions
where relaxation of the smooth muscle around
artery walls is desired.
“The original intention
was to develop PDE-5 inhibitors as a treatment
for angina, chest pain that occurs when the
heart is starved for oxygen,” said Ernst
R. Schwarz, a cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical
Center who specializes in therapies for men
who suffer from erectile dysfunction as well
as cardiovascular conditions.
“Their effects on the heart appear to
be all beneficial… PDE-5 inhibitors (PDE-5i)
actually improve blood flow even in areas where
there is a blockage of an artery, thereby having
a protective effect on the heart muscle,”
he added.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently
approved a new version of Viagra to treat pulmonary
hypertension, a condition where high blood pressures
in the lungs lead to heart problems, often in
young women.
ED drugs have been associated with negative
side effects in the past. In particular, Viagra
has been linked to an eye condition called NAION,
or non-arteric anterior ischemic optic neuropathy
(see Viagra-Blindness Link Probed). However,
the review found no evidence to support the
concerns.
“Even though individual cases have been
reported for all PDE-5i, these recently published
data do not suggest an increased incidence of
[NAION] in men who took PDE-5i for ED,”
it reads.
Source: http://www.redherring.com/article.aspx?a=17301 |
