VML 670 .......... Drug tackles Prozac libido loss !!!!

[Guest guest]

Patients on antidepressants who suffer a loss of libido could be

offered hope with a treatment to combat the side effect.

At least a third of people who take the class of antidepressants,

which includes Prozac, have problems with sexual arousal.

But now, a Reading-based company is developing a drug with Prozac's

manufacturers, Eli Lilly, which could boost patients' sex drive.

The company, Vernalis, is developing a drug codenamed VML 670, which

is thought to act on one of the receptors in the brain that reacts

to serotonin.

It would be better if we had medication which didn't produce these

side effects

Professor Allan Young, University of Newcastle

But the manufacturers say it could be up to five years before the

drug is available to patients.

The work is featured in the magazine New Scientist.

Mood alteration

Serotonin is a chemical which influences mood in many different

ways.

Prozac belongs to a group of antidepressants called SSRIs, selective

serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, which increase the amount of

serotonin available to act on receptors.

That helps tackle the depressive symptoms, but can also affect

sexual arousal.

One the sexual side effects caused by antidepressants is anorgasmia -

a difficulty in reaching orgasm. Patients can also simply lose

interest in sex.

Hutchison, senior vice president for development at Vernalis,

told BBC News Online: " For the patients that develop new sexual

problems while taking antidepressants, we would like this new drug

to reverse these problems, and put them back to where they were

before. "

He said there were 15 subtypes of serotonin receptor, and it was

hoped to affect the one which controlled sexual response.

" SSRIs will act indiscriminately across the whole 15, but we do know

that one of the effects of SSRIs is they turn of this particular

receptor. We're trying to turn it on again. "

He added that Viagra had been considered as a solution to the side

effect, but added that although it can increase blood flow, it does

not change desire or arousal.

He said tests on rats had shown VML 670 increased the animals' sex

drive.

Males mounted receptive females more quickly, and ejaculated more

quickly.

Tests of VML 670 on healthy people have been completed safely.

Studies are due to be carried out on people taking SSRIs.

But Mr Hutchison warned the drug would not raise the sex drive of

people who were not taking antidepressants, and said they should not

try it.

" Our healthy volunteers reported no difference in arousal. That's

good news, because we don't want to alter normal sex drive, " he

said.

'Drawback'

Allan Young, professor of general psychiatry at the University of

Newcastle, told BBC News Online: " It would be better if we had

medication which didn't produce these side effects. "

" The sexual-side effects of antidepressants do represent a

significant draw-back of these treatments for many people.

" Depression is a common illness and SSRI antidepressants are widely

used and should be taken for prolonged periods.

" Development of new treatments to reduce the side effect burden and

therefore increase compliance are to be welcomed.

" The proposed drug seems to be likely to help, but the proof will be

shown in clinical trials. "

[Guest guest]

Patients on antidepressants who suffer a loss of libido could be

offered hope with a treatment to combat the side effect.

At least a third of people who take the class of antidepressants,

which includes Prozac, have problems with sexual arousal.

But now, a Reading-based company is developing a drug with Prozac's

manufacturers, Eli Lilly, which could boost patients' sex drive.

The company, Vernalis, is developing a drug codenamed VML 670, which

is thought to act on one of the receptors in the brain that reacts

to serotonin.

It would be better if we had medication which didn't produce these

side effects

Professor Allan Young, University of Newcastle

But the manufacturers say it could be up to five years before the

drug is available to patients.

The work is featured in the magazine New Scientist.

Mood alteration

Serotonin is a chemical which influences mood in many different

ways.

Prozac belongs to a group of antidepressants called SSRIs, selective

serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, which increase the amount of

serotonin available to act on receptors.

That helps tackle the depressive symptoms, but can also affect

sexual arousal.

One the sexual side effects caused by antidepressants is anorgasmia -

a difficulty in reaching orgasm. Patients can also simply lose

interest in sex.

Hutchison, senior vice president for development at Vernalis,

told BBC News Online: " For the patients that develop new sexual

problems while taking antidepressants, we would like this new drug

to reverse these problems, and put them back to where they were

before. "

He said there were 15 subtypes of serotonin receptor, and it was

hoped to affect the one which controlled sexual response.

" SSRIs will act indiscriminately across the whole 15, but we do know

that one of the effects of SSRIs is they turn of this particular

receptor. We're trying to turn it on again. "

He added that Viagra had been considered as a solution to the side

effect, but added that although it can increase blood flow, it does

not change desire or arousal.

He said tests on rats had shown VML 670 increased the animals' sex

drive.

Males mounted receptive females more quickly, and ejaculated more

quickly.

Tests of VML 670 on healthy people have been completed safely.

Studies are due to be carried out on people taking SSRIs.

But Mr Hutchison warned the drug would not raise the sex drive of

people who were not taking antidepressants, and said they should not

try it.

" Our healthy volunteers reported no difference in arousal. That's

good news, because we don't want to alter normal sex drive, " he

said.

'Drawback'

Allan Young, professor of general psychiatry at the University of

Newcastle, told BBC News Online: " It would be better if we had

medication which didn't produce these side effects. "

" The sexual-side effects of antidepressants do represent a

significant draw-back of these treatments for many people.

" Depression is a common illness and SSRI antidepressants are widely

used and should be taken for prolonged periods.

" Development of new treatments to reduce the side effect burden and

therefore increase compliance are to be welcomed.

" The proposed drug seems to be likely to help, but the proof will be

shown in clinical trials. "