Vardenafil allows successful intercourse initiated rapidly after dosing in Japanese patients with diabetes mellitus and erectile dysfunction.

INTRODUCTION: Vardenafil is reported to improve success rates in the maintenance of an erection sufficient for completion of intercourse (SEP-3) compared with placebo in erectile dysfunction (ED) patients who attempted intercourse from as early as 15 minutes after dosing. However, these data were based on general ED patients, using time from administration to initiation of intercourse. It is unclear whether the results can be applied to difficult-to-treat ED patients, such as those with diabetes mellitus (DM), with the time between dosing and insertion into vagina.

AIM: To determine whether early onset of activity with vardenafil is also achievable in ED patients with DM.

METHODS: Data from a 12-week Phase III clinical trial (randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group comparison) in Japanese men with ED and DM was used for analysis. In this study, patients received vardenafil 10 mg, 20 mg, or placebo, and were instructed to start sexual activity 1 hour after dosing. Mean per-patient SEP-3 success rates (intent-to-treat; ITT population), based on patient diary question, were calculated by the time between dosing and insertion. The least-squares means and nominal P values for differences versus placebo were derived by analysis of covariance with terms for baseline.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: SEP-3 success rates in each time interval.

RESULTS: The majority of inserts occurred between 60-90 minutes after dosing, but 100 of inserts in 52 patients occurred in the first 30 minutes. SEP-3 success rates in patients who inserted in each interval from 0-15 minutes (P = 0.0268), 15-30 minutes (P = 0.0094) through > 120 minutes were all higher in vardenafil-treated patients than those in placebo.

CONCLUSIONS: In this retrospective analysis, a rapid onset of activity was also demonstrated in difficult-to-treat ED patients. Vardenafil improved successful intercourse rates compared with placebo in Japanese DM patients who inserted from as early as 15 minutes to >120 minutes after dosing.