New drug puts love back in the air

It may help you reach the heights of passion, but Viagra could stop you enjoying the pillow talk afterwards.

It may help you reach the heights of passion, but Viagra could stop you enjoying the pillow talk afterwards.

Published Apr 19, 2011

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Belfast - A new wonder drug that works faster than Viagra to boost flagging sex lives has been developed by scientists in Northern Ireland.

Men - and their frustrated partners - from all over the world will have scientists in Belfast to thank for a new “revolutionary” male impotence drug which works in just 30 minutes - and is even effective with alcohol.

The first batches of the mint flavoured pills (known as Levitra) which disolve on the tongue and target erectile dysfunction (ED), were rolled out in the UK earlier this month.

Dr Wallace Dinsmore, a physician at the Royal Victoria Hospital who conducted research on the medication called Oral Disperible Levitra, said not only could the soluble pills be responsible for putting the wind back in the sails of men, they could also save marriages and boost mental health.

He told Sunday Life: “I've had patients on the verge of suicide because they're too frightened to talk to their GP and partners about it.

“If a man develops ED, his partner thinks he isn't attracted to her anymore, she thinks he is seeing someone else. He may cause arguments to avoid having sex because he knows he can't.

“Relationships can break down as a result, ending up with divorce and depression.”

The new drug was researched and developed in the Royal and the Celerion private research facility in Belfast, as well as other centres in Europe.

Dr Dinsmore, who has been working in the sexual medicine field for more than 20 years, said Belfast was also home to some of the initial trials for the original Viagra back in 1994.

Commenting on Levitra, he said: “This is the first time there's been treatment available for spontaneity in patients' sex lives.

Dr Dinsmore estimates that 75,000 men in Northern Ireland suffer from the condition - around one in ten - and the majority does not seek treatment.

He added that it is “very important” for those with ED to get a full medical, warning that ED often acts as a precursor for cardiac disease.

Levitra is available through prescription from a GP or specialist upon appointment. -

Sunday Life

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