Viagra skin patch in development – And it works faster than tablets!

People usually wear plasters to stem blood flow, but imagine putting one on to actually get something into the bloodstream?

For that is the idea behind a new way to treat erectile dysfunction in men, with scientists at universities at Cairo and Saudi Arabia looking at getting viagra into the blood, acting in a similar way to a smoking patch.

Men suffering with impotence problems would theoretically be able to wear the viagra skin patch on their upper arm or the abdomen, and perhaps most importantly for men, will kick-in within just a matter of seconds or minutes. Viagra can take between 30 minutes to an hour to work.

This means it will get men in the mood for sex even quicker than the time it takes them to get into the bedroom and take their clothes off!

Moreover, after taking the tablet version of viagra, some men occasionally experience various non-life threatening side effects such as blurred vision, slight headache, indigestion and muscle pain. The new erectile dysfunction skin patch would mean an end to these unwanted effects.

The team involved in the research at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, along with scientists at Cairo University, utilised a new drug delivery method, known as transferome technology.
A tiny patch measured at just 1cm squared was created, comprised of minute particles of sildenafil citrate (the active ingredient in viagra) which is coated with thin layers of fat and chemicals that will enable the skin to absorb the drug.

The patch was then tested on rats in order to judge just how much – if any – of the medicine would manage to penetrate the skin. The patch used on the rats only contained 1 milligram of viagra, which means bigger patches would need to be fashioned to accommodate for doses of viagra prescribed to men, which can range from 25mg to 100mg.

In a report in the journal Drug Design, Development and Therapy, scientists said the results demonstrated that viagra particles successfully transmitted through both the outer and inner layers of the skin.
In a report on the findings they said: “This could be a promising delivery system for the drug.
“The skin is an alternative route to the oral one, prolonging the effect and reducing variability.”
Although the patch has only been tested on rats thus far, there are hopes for future clinical trials on humans.

Since viagra first became available in 1998, its popularity has skyrocketed and has boosted the love lives of millions of men across the globe. After viagra became a huge success, its chunk of the market was somewhat reduced following the 2003 FDA-approvals of both levitra (vardenafil) and cialis (tadalafil) for the treatment of erectile dysfunction.

According to official health statistics, over 3.5m prescriptions were dispensed in England during 2015 alone for medicines to treat erectile dysfunction.

The manufacturers of viagra, Pfizer, were forced into lowering the hefty price of viagra after seeing its patent expire in 2013 and this led to many generic sildenafil products entering the market, drugs that contained exactly the same active ingredient of the branded viagra, but could be sold to patients for just a fraction of the price.

However, men might not want to completely ditch their oral medications just yet. The British Society of Sexual Medicine’s Dr Geoff Hackett warns that the patches will actually hit patients hard in the wallet compared to existing treatments.

“It might be a nice way of delivering the drug,” he said.

“But I can’t see how a patch likely to cost around £10 is going to replace a pill that’s a fraction of the price.”

Man jailed for 16 weeks for selling dangerous ‘herbal’ male impotence drug

On Friday a 58-year-old man was slapped with a 16 week prison sentence at Wood Green Crown Court for selling an unlicensed and dangerously potent erectile dysfunction (ED) drug which contained more than four times the recommended dose.

The man, from Barnet, became of interest to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) as far back as 2009 following a caution for possession with intent to supply ‘Jia Yi Jian’.

Jia Yi Jian is a so-called ‘herbal’ male impotence medicine that was actually discovered to contain a shockingly high dose of tadalafil – the active ingredient in prescription-only ED drug Cialis – in addition to over four times the common dose of sibutramine, a slimming treatment that is no longer available.

Sibutramine was pulled from circulation back in 2010 due to widespread fears about health risks associated with the drug. However, mixed with tadalafil, there is the risk of serious health problems such as increased heart rate, heart attack and stroke.

Following that 2009 caution, the man was stopped in his tracks at Heathrow Airport in 2010 after inspectors discovered an incredible 51,600 tablets of ‘Herbal Viagra’ which he had been bringing into the country from China.

The herbal tablets were anything but that, and again comprised of prescription-only medicine tadalafil. A private prescription or a doctor’s consultation with a registered pharmacy such as Medical Specialists® Pharmacy is absolutely essential to ascertain a patient’s health and suitable for that, or indeed any medicine. Counterfeiters or those selling unlicensed drugs do not follow any procedure like this and are breaking the law and putting lives at risk.

Following an MHRA investigation, the man was given a 32-week suspended prison sentence. Then, after MHRA officers searched the man’s home, in excess of 5,000 tablets were unearthed disguised in boxes labelled as ‘Diet tea’. The haul included the aforementioned Jia Yi Jian.

The recent 16 week sentence was imposed after the man was found to have breached his suspended sentence, for which resulted in an 8 week sentence, which was added to another 8 weeks for selling unlicensed drugs without any authorisation. He was also hit in the pocket, incurring a £600 court change to be paid within 12 months.

MHRA Head of Enforcement, Alastair Jeffrey commented: “We will continue to seek out and prosecute the kind of criminals who recklessly endanger public health by selling illegal unlicensed medicines. Products such as these which are adulterated with high levels of pharmaceutical ingredients present a real health risk. It is vital that people who are suffering a medical condition don’t take shortcuts buying online, speak to your doctor to get the appropriate treatment.”

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the majority of counterfeit or unlicensed drugs would contain very little – if any – of the primary active ingredient, in this case tadalafil from ED medication cialis. However, this case goes to show that not only are some dubiously sold medicines containing the active ingredient, they may even contain potentially fatal high doses, and why patients should only go to a legitimate and fully-registered pharmacy.

If taken in excess, tadalafil overdose symptoms can include chest pain, irregular heartbeat, feeling lightheaded, fainting or nausea. In addition, patients suffering with male impotence should never combine Cialis with other ED medication like sildenafil (Viagra) or vardenafil (Levitra).

Medical Specialists™ now offer exciting ‘second generation’ impotence treatment Spedra

Since the release of Pfizer’s Viagra way back in 1998, men across the globe suffering from the common condition known as erectile dysfunction (ED) have been spoilt for choice with regards to treatment options.

Sildenafil citrate – marketed as Viagra – was subsequently joined by Levitra (vardenafil) and Cialis (tadalafil), followed by variations such as the Cialis Daily tablets and Levitra ODT (Orodispersible). And now the ED market finally welcomes an exciting new addition to its vast array of treatments, in the form of Spedra (avanafil).

Spedra is available today from Medical Specialiasts™ Pharmacy, priced from as little as £23.17 for 4 x 50mg tablets. No prescription? No worry…Our in-house Doctors will write a prescription for you, which is then dispensed by our in-house Pharmacists, and sent to you within 24 hours.

Menarini, a private company headquartered in Florence, are manufacturers of Spedra and are touting the new treatment as the very first ‘second-generation’ medication for ED. This is due to the fact patients within the clinical trials did not report back to have experienced some of the side effects associated with the other PDE-5 inhibitors, i.e. blurred vision or slight hearing loss.

Spedra has been shown to have an impressive success rate of 77% and is rapidly becoming well known for being the quickest acting male impotence treatment there is. Those being prescribed it for the first time may find they start on 100mg, but there are also 50mg and 200mg doses of the drug. The maximum recommended dosing frequency is once per day. Like the other ED treatments, Spedra’s full effect is felt with prior sexual stimulation (foreplay) – just like you would engage in any way if you were not taking a medication for ED.

Taken orally, Spedra belongs in the same family of medicines as Viagra, Levitra and Cialis. Just like the existing ED drugs, Spedra belongs to a class of medicines known as PDE-5 (Phosphodiesterase type 5) inhibitors and is suitable for men who have trouble getting or sustaining an erection for sexual intercourse.

Whereas the existing treatments can take anywhere between 25 minutes to an hour to take effect, clinical trials have demonstrated the impressive prowess of Spedra, which kicks-in with firm erections after just 15 minutes, according to many of the men participating in trials. The new treatment will shave vital minutes off compared to its counterparts, ideal for more ‘spur of the moment’ love making.

Spedra has been shown to remain effective for between four and five hours, a time duration similar to that of Viagra. It should be noted that this does not mean you will have an erection for between four and five hours, but that you will have ability to achieve improved erections that duration. Like other ED treatments, Spedra may take longer to become effective if taken following a large meal.

Levitra’s active ingredient could help to fight Raynaud’s

This year we have already heard about how erectile dysfunction medication has been found to possibly help with certain conditions in men such as premature ejaculation, but now it appears that vardenafil (the active ingredient in Levitra), may help in aiding blood flow and relieving symptoms for those who suffer from Raynaud’s syndrome.

This is a condition that restricts blood supply to certain areas of the body, with the fingers and toes often found to suffer most in this aspect and can actually change to a pale white colour. Symptoms are brought on when blood vessels become narrow due to very cold temperatures and it is believed that Raynaud’s may be a sign of an underlying issue such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or scleroderma. In many cases, it has been found that by quitting smoking, you can help to alleviate your symptoms as smoking can have a detrimental effect to your blood circulation.

The latest study on Raynaud’s syndrome (or ‘phenomenon’ as it is sometimes known), was published three days ago in the online Archives of Internal Medicine. It is the most wide-scale randomised study that has ever been conducted on the disease and was orchestrated by Evren Caglayan, MD, from the University Hospital in Cologne, Germany. This study is not the first to examine possible benefits of erectile dysfunction medication in treating Raynaud’s, but it is the first to show promising results.

To begin with, Evren and his colleagues’ randomly selected 53 subjects who had attended clinics at the University Hospital because of their Raynaud’s, between the time periods January 2006 to August 2009. Of the 53 patients, almost 90% suffered with secondary Raynaud’s (due to an underlying cause such as systemic sclerosis), and the rest of the patients had primary Raynaud’s, whereby there was no known cause for their condition.

For the study, a 2-period crossover for 6 weeks was implemented, to understand the efficiency and safety of two doses of 10mg vardenafil each day. After a week’s break, the treatment group and those who were given a placebo were switched around so that the treatment group would now receive the placebo. The severity of everybody’s Raynaud’s was established via a daily questionnaire, whereby a ‘Raynaud condition score’ would be calculated. In addition, a laser Doppler perfusion imager was utilised to assess digital blood flow in patients.

The authors reflected on the findings of their study and commented, “Interestingly, in patients receiving vardenafil first, the RCS remained low during the washout phase and the entire second phase of the study when patients received placebo, suggesting a prolonged drug effect. This study is, to our knowledge, the largest randomised controlled trial investigating the efficacy and safety of a PDE5 inhibitor in patients with RP. The findings demonstrate that vardenafil is safe and improves clinical symptoms in these patients.”