Men's Health

Pill for Premature Ejaculation in Development

Experts: Wait and See continued...

Meanwhile, both say they are satisfied with treating their patients with better-studied SSRIs.

"SSRIs for rapid ejaculation are administered at a low dose, so you don't really see the erectile dysfunction side effect in this use," says urologist Kenneth Goldberg, MD, founder of The Male Health Center in Dallas, the nation's first center specializing in male health. "And rapid ejaculators are more typically younger patients [who are less likely to become impotent]. In fact, I don't know of a single patient with rapid ejaculation who has ever complained of ED as a result of SSRI use."

Goldberg tells WebMD that with SSRIs, his patients can delay ejaculation for several minutes -- the same rate of delay seen in some of Every's patients. Untreated, rapid ejaculators typically climax within a few seconds of penetration or other contact.

As with LI 301, Goldberg says SSRIs are typically used on an as-needed basis, also taken about two hours before sex. They do not have to be taken daily by rapid ejaculators who don't have depression.

"I certainly hope (LI 301) works, but it's too early to say," adds Harvard urologist Michael P. O'Leary, MD, MPH. "Its effectiveness depends on how specific it is to the (brain) receptors, and we'll have to wait and see how well it does. Meanwhile, SSRI efficacy has been demonstrated. They don't work on every man, but they do work on most."

SOURCES: Chris Every, CEO, Enhance Biotech, Inc., New York and London. Kenneth Goldberg, MD, urologist and founder, The Male Health Center, Dallas. Michael P. O'Leary, MD, MPH, urologist, Brigham and Women's Hospital; associate professor of surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston.