Viagra Proves Effective for Chinese Patients

After two years' of clinical trials, Chinese medical experts have concluded that the anti-impotence drug Viagra is an effective, safe oral treatment for Chinese patients with erectile dysfunction (ED).

Guo Yinglu, director of the Institute of Urology at Beijing University, led a medical team carrying out the test, which was conducted in line with the strictest international Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines.

Results of the Chinese study were similar to those conducted in western countries.

Guo and his colleagues presented the results of the clinical trials for Viagra in China to the 5th Asian Congress on Urology, which was held from August 27 to 31 in Beijing.

The overall success rate for the treatment of patients with ED caused by physical, psychological and mixed conditions, was 81 percent, said Guo, also academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

The institute organized the second phase of clinical trials, which tested the effectiveness and safety of the drug on 628 ED patients, before its official launch, in seven hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan between September 1998 and February 1999.

"The study proves that Viagra is effective, simple to use, reliable and it has no side-effects," Guo said. "There were no cases of patients discontinuing use of the drug because of adverse effects."

World medical circles said that the test results in China provided more comprehensive guidelines for clinical applications of Viagra. Patients in China have significant differences to Western subjects, such as a lower body mass index.

"The Viagra clinical study in China was a high level study, in accordance with international general principles," said Tom Lue, professor of the Urology Department at University of California, San Francisco in the United States.

"The result is consistent with Western studies," said Lue. "Viagra is effective and safe for the Chinese population."

Andrew McCullough, professor at New York University School of Medicine, said, "The strict phase two trials in China further prove the safety and effectiveness of Viagra."

Viagra, widely regarded as a breakthrough treatment for ED, was developed by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, and is the first effective and safe oral medication for ED treatment in the world.

China's State Drug Administration (SDA) approved the production and sales of Viagra in the country from July 3. Since then, the drug has been available at general hospitals at county level or above, but only with a doctor's prescription.

China is the 101st country to give the green light to the diamond-shaped blue pill, which is marketed under the Chinese name "wan ai ke," though it has long been known throughout the country as "wei ge" -- a Chinese phrase literally meaning "Strong Brother."

Statistics show that at least 100 million males worldwide suffer from ED. Meanwhile, medical experts estimate that ten percent of Chinese adult males suffer from impotence, a condition often associated with age, hypertension, diabetes and unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking and excessively drinking.

Throughout the world, more than eight million ED patients had taken Viagra by the end of April, 2000.



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