Generic Levitra (Vardenafil)

New research shows that erectile dysfunction drugs such as Viagra, Levitra, and Cialis may increase production of oxytocin, a reproductive hormone released during orgasm.

That news comes from scientists at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

They tested sildenafil (Viagra’s active ingredient), vardenafil (Levitra’s active ingredient), and a related chemical called T-1032 in lab tests on rats.

The researchers exposed part of the rats’ pituitary gland to those chemicals (which are called PDE5 inhibitors) and to mild electrical stimulation. Under those conditions, the rats’ pituitary glands produced more oxytocin.

Does that happen in people, too? This study doesn’t answer that question.

But that topic deserves further study, since oxytocin is important in various reproductive functions, write researcher Meyer Jackson, PhD, and colleagues.

Their study shows no signs of increased oxytocin production without stimulation.

“Erectile dysfunction drugs do not induce erections spontaneously; they enhance the response to sexual stimulation,” Jackson states in a news release.

“The same thing is happening in the [rats’] posterior pituitary — Viagra will not induce the release of oxytocin on its own, but it will enhance the amount of release you get in response to electrical stimulation,” states Jackson.

The erectile dysfunction drug Levitra is getting a label change noting rare reports of transient global amnesia in men taking the drug.

Transient global amnesia, or TGA, is a brief bout of amnesia, not lasting longer than a day, without causing other problems.

Levitra’s label change isn’t a warning or a precaution, and it doesn’t mean that the drug causes memory problems. The reported cases of transient global amnesia in men taking Levitra may have been spurred by something else, even by sex.

“Sex can trigger TGA,” says Harvard neurology professor Louis R. Caplan, MD. He likens TGA to a tape recorder that’s not working.

“People otherwise can walk and talk and read and do high-level things, but they’re not recording the information, as if their tape recorder is off,” Caplan explains.

Transient global amnesia “scares people” but it doesn’t affect function, long-term memory, or other aspects of health, Caplan says. “It isn’t a reason not to take the drug.”

Still, men who experience transient global amnesia should see a doctor to rule out illness or injury, says Caplan, who is also an attending physician in the Comprehensive Center for Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

Not a “Warning” or “Precaution”

Transient global amnesia will join a list of other rare, reported adverse events — including vision problems and sudden hearing loss, which are noted for all ED drugs — in the “Post-Marketing” section of Levitra’s label.

Levitra’s label got the transient global amnesia note “because of a limited number of post-marketing reports of men who experienced TGA” around the time they took Levitra, the FDA tells WebMD in an email.

But those reports don’t prove that Levitra was to blame.

Bayer Pharmaceuticals and the FDA have agreed on the wording of Levitra’s label change, Bayer Pharmaceuticals spokesman Mark C. Burnett tells WebMD by email. Bayer “constantly monitors product safety reports and works closely together with worldwide regulatory authorities, including the FDA, to ensure that appropriate product information is shared with physicians and with their patients,” Burnett says.

Men now have two new reasons to take erection-enhancing drugs every day.

Those reasons: The drugs may lower a man’s risk of heart disease and of noncancerous prostate symptoms. Instead of calling them erectile dysfunction drugs, they might come to be called “men’s health pills,” suggest urologist Frank Sommer, MD, PhD, and colleagues at University Medical Center in Cologne, Germany.

This provocative speculation is based on short-term data from a small study. Sommer reported the findings at this week’s annual meeting of the American Urological Association in San Antonio.

“Preliminary results are quite encouraging that [these drugs] could be used for the treatment or prevention of benign prostatic symptoms, erectile dysfunction, and cardiovascular disease,” Sommer and colleagues write in their presentation abstract. “These [drugs] seem to have the potential of being a so-called men’s health pill.”

Daily Levitra vs. Levitra on Demand

Erectile dysfunction drugs work by inhibiting an enzyme called PDE-5. This helps muscles relax and increases blood flow to the penis.

To see if these drugs might have other long-term health effects, Sommer and colleagues studied men with benign prostate symptoms. Some of the men got Levitra, an erectile dysfunction drug, once every day. Other men took Levitra only when they desired sexual intercourse.

After three months, the men getting Levitra every day had:
Just as good relief of erectile dysfunction as the Levitra-on-demand men
More improvement in tests for blood flow, which indicate healthy blood vessel function
More improvement in prostate symptoms

But it’s not yet time to start popping those little pills along with your daily vitamins. The study findings, Sommer and colleagues note, are preliminary.