Approaches for the development of oral drug therapies for erectile dysfunction

Currently, there are no effective oral drug therapies for the treatment of sexual dysfunction. The intent of this review was to outline the new research strategies that have emanated from experimental and clinical observations. These strategies include pharmacologic modification of cellular responses within the ventral diencephalon, brain stem, spinal cord, and penis, which represent segments of the erectile response systems. Although it is theoretically possible to treat sexual dysfunction by targeting any one of these segments, a single approach would most likely benefit only a subgroup of patients. Erectile dysfunction patients may have characteristics of several disorders, in which case combined drug therapies may be more useful. The goal of the current research is to define the regulation of sexual function at each segment of the response loop and to apply this knowledge to the treatment of the diverse disorders that contribute to erectile dysfunction.