Caverject
alprostadil
Caverject is administered
via small-needle injection into an area of the penis known as the corpus
cavernosum. It works by relaxing smooth muscle tissue which, in turn,
enhances blood flow to the penis, creating an erection. The drug is indicated
for the treatment of erectile dysfunction whether the cause is neurological,
vascular, psychological or of mixed origin. Patients selected for treatment
with Caverject receive initial injections from medically-trained personnel
to determine optimum dosing. Caverject can be administered by the patient
once he has been trained to self-inject.
Approximately 200 reports exist in published literature on self- injection
therapy with alprostadil. Results from clinical trials showed that more
than 80 percent of patients diagnosed with erectile dysfunction who used
Caverject experienced an erection.
Caverject and the Patient: According to J. Francois Eid, M.D., director of the Erectile Dysfunction
Unit at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, the availability
of Caverject could have a significant impact on the lives of patients
and their partners.
"For many men, impotence is a source of extreme emotional frustration,
embarrassment and loss of self-esteem," said Eid, who conducted clinical
trials with the drug for Upjohn. "Caverject represents new hope for
the many impotent men and their partners currently suffering in silence.
It also represents an important new treatment option for those impotent
men not satisfied with their current therapy."
The Origins of Caverject: Caverject contains prostaglandin E1 (alprostadil), a vasoactive agent
that, in a different formulation, has been used as a pre-surgical treatment
for infants with congenital heart defects. Prostaglandins occur naturally
in human tissues and fluids and play a role in the mechanism of natural
erection. Caverject is administered via injection into the penis, using
a syringe with a small needle.
In clinical studies, the most common side effect of Caverject
was penile pain (37 percent). Other less common side effects include injection
site bleeding (5 percent), prolonged erection of four to six hours (4
percent), and fibrosis (3 percent, with one, 18-month study recording
a rate of 7.8 percent). The incidence of priapism, an erection that lasts
more than six hours, was 0.4 percent.
