Drug to Last 60 Seconds Longer?

That’s the question Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and several biotech
companies are asking. After the tremendous success of erectile
dysfunction drugs such as Viagra, they are investigating treatments that
now promise to delay ejaculation. In six months, Johnson & Johnson will
be introducing “Dapoxetine,” a drug currently under review by the Food
and Drug Administration, and likely to be the first treatment approved
for the condition.

First, let’s define the term premature ejaculation, ‘drug company
style.’ Providing stopwatches to wives and girlfriends, J & J asked
them to measure the period between penetration and ejaculation of 1587
men. Anyone already feeling anxious? (a primary cause of premature
ejaculation.) Those considering themselves “normal” averaged 7.3
minutes. Men who considered themselves “premature” averaged 1.8
minutes. But apparently quite a few of these self-defined premature men
didn’t leave feeling anxious about being premature. They didn’t see it
“a problem.” J & J hopes to change all that.

When Seconds Count

Undeterred, by the unfettered, J & J went forward, this time studying
2,614 men ages 18-77 in stable heterosexual relationships, all diagnosed
with premature ejaculation (meaning not only that they did ejaculate in
under two minutes, but they also felt anxious about it.) Two groups
were given Dapoxetine at varying doses, one group was given placebo.
The results were dose dependent: At 60-milligrams, they were able to
last just over 3 minutes (up from an average 55 seconds), but 20%
experienced nausea at that level, and another 6-7% had headaches,
diarrhea or dizziness. At 30-milligrams, they delayed ejaculation 2.8
minutes, but with fewer side effects. The placebo group, who believed
they were getting the drug but were not, lasted 1.8 minutes.

Of course doctors have been prescribing a number of existing drugs
already, for the condition, including the SSRI’s Paxil and Zoloft, shown
to delay orgasm and Dapoxetine works in a similar manner. Like SSRI
antidepressants, Dapoxetine regulates levels of serotonin in the brain,
but it works much faster and can be taken 1-3 hours before sex. While
SSRI’s are known to dampen libido, researchers hope this side effect
will be less pronounced with Dapoxetine. (!!) Researchers are also
exploring whether Viagra itself can alleviate premature ejaculation.

Peddling ‘Prematurity’

No one can blame drug manufacturers for being lured into a market that
brought Pfizer over $1 billion in sales from Viagra within a year.
According to many estimates, this ‘condition’ affects 15% to 30% of
American men. That’s significantly more than the 10% with erectile
problems. Estimates put the sales of Dapoxetine at $350 million to
$1.15 billion in 2008. If they can convince even more men who are
“premature” that it is a real problem, their profits could even be
greater.

Fantasy Model of Sex: ‘The Hard Driving F**k’

Keeping the focus on the length of time a man can “last” with
intercourse (along with the firmness and size of his penis) appears to
be the “gold standard” for those wanting to use sexual science to sell
product. As the late Bernie Zilbergeld wrote in The New Male Sexuality,
the penis is “Six feet long, hard as steel, and can go all night” in the
Fantasy Model of Sex. Great for pornography and other fantasy, but what
about real relationships?

If Viagra is any guide, a pill and an erection does not ‘a great sex
life’ make. Don’t get me wrong, Viagra was welcomed by couples in good
relationships, who were once again able to enjoy sexual intercourse with
the help of a penis. But the troubled relationships did not
find nirvana. There is always a man at the end of that penis, and
having an erection, even one that lasts for hours, can’t make up for
years of bitterness, disrespect, and contempt two people live with. And
lasting 60 or 70 seconds longer isn’t likely to impress an alienated
spouse, either.

The Man at the End of the Penis

Sex, in the final analysis, is about more than bumping bodies. Wouldn’t
it be great if the workings of a relatively small organ between a man’s
legs, meeting some standard of “normal” enabled its owner to relate to
other people, improve their sense of agency and effectiveness in the
world, enhance their self-worth and overall feelings of masculinity?
Penis enlargements didn’t do it. Viagra didn’t do it. I doubt
Dapoxetine will have much effect either. There is no such thing as a
powerful penis with a man attached. If the man isn’t powerful,
personally, and interpersonally, it hardly matters what his penis is
doing. Eroticism involves the whole self, or it just doesn’t work
long-term.


The Viagra Experience

If the experience of Viagra has taught us anything, it is that pills can
provide the erection, but the rest is up to the humans involved. Being
able to have an erection, or last longer doesn’t make someone a “real
man,” or a “hot lover.” It makes you a person with an erection or
someone that ejaculates after 2.8 minutes, instead of 55 seconds.

Pills also open up their own set of relationship and social issues. Who
controls when they get used and why? “Did you take a Viagra or is that
a ‘real’ erection?” may soon be followed by “That was only 82 seconds.
Did you take the Dapoxetine or what?” Will women start grabbing their
own stopwatches to see if they also can “speed up their orgasm” to match
the three minute window?

If we are able to extend intercourse indefinitely with the right dose,
how long is ‘long enough?’ Women who can orgasm with intercourse usually take longer than 7.3 minutes. Should the “long enough standard” be based on the partner? Should insurance companies pay for it, and whose word do we take that the patient is lasting “under the minimum time”?

Like Viagra, Dapoxetine may be the courage some men need to find their
way out of a bad marriage, or into extramarital affairs. It may also
become popular for the young party crowd, who, exhausted and depleted, at the end of a long recreational-drug filled the evening have found Viagra a ‘quick pick-me-up,’ literally.

Short, but Sweet.

And what about those guys who lasted less than two minutes, but were quite
happy to keep it that way? Are they selfish ogres, or have they learned something about making sex passionate and intense before penetration (and after their partner’s orgasm)? Did their partners tell researches that “by the time we were ready for intercourse, I am content and sexually satisfied.” Would they describe their two minute intercourse as a “pleasant way of ending the lovemaking”? No, I doubt the researchers even asked any questions of them. There is no money to be made from researching sexually-contented people, because there is little to sell them. Except discontent.

It will be interesting to watch how J & J instigates sexual anxiety in guys and their partners where none previously existed. It will all be carefully researched beforehand. And somehow a man’s willingness to risk headaches, nausea, low sex drive and dizziness to last “a silly 60-seconds longer” will seem like a reasonable “loving choice.” More “cost effective” than sex therapy, another treatment option that most often holds a 70-80% treatment success.

Taking a pill just seems easier than having a candid discussion about one’s sexual preferences and options. But it is illusionary. The ‘right tool for the right job’ is only a useful metaphor if sex can be reduced to “performance” and the penis becomes the most important instrument for the “job.” A man will always be behind the penis, and while pills can’t talk, he can and should, if a more satisfying sexual relationship is what he’s after.