Existing and future pharmacotherapy for erectile dysfunction

Abstract

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a highly prevalent healthcare problem. For many decades treatment options were limited to either ineffective or invasive ones. The introduction of orally administered phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitors in clinical practice has been a revolution, offering patients and clinicians a well-tolerated, effective treatment. Despite their advantages, PDE5 inhibitors remain a symptomatic, on-demand treatment to which a number of patients fail to respond. Accumulated knowledge on ED pathophysiology and, particularly, on the importance of molecular pathways involved in erectile function has offered multiple targets for development of new therapies, intending not only to effectively treat symptoms, but also to correct the underlying abnormalities, thus giving hope for long-term remission or even cure of ED. The existing and future pharmacotherapy for ED will be reviewed in this article.

Keywords::

• erectile dysfunction
• gene therapy
• guanylyl cyclase
• nitric oxide
• phosphodiesterase 5
• Rho-kinase

Notes