Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

'Paging Dr. Gupta'

Aired November 18, 2003 - 08:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Medical news this morning, two very important stories to get to. For men with sexual dysfunction, it's a revolution of sorts. Two anti-impotence drugs now on the market. A third is on the way soon.
Here's Sanjay Gupta, our good doctor, at the CNN Center to talk about this.

I also want to mention the word from the CDC regarding this year's flu season. What are they saying, Sanjay? Let's start there.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a tough flu season coming up possibly, Bill. It's already striking, which is a little bit earlier than normal. It sounds like it's going to be a tougher season. As well on the flu shot, while mainly effective, there is a strain of the flu out there, particularly tough one, that the flu shot this year not protecting against as well.

So best advice, get your flu shot for the masses out there to protect yourself against what is out there, but it may be a little bit of a difficult one this year, Bill.

HEMMER: What about sexual dysfunction? We now have two options out there. There's a third on the way. Studies are being done to find out which one is most effective. What are you hearing?

GUPTA: Very important topic as well. It's a huge industry, the impotence drugs, about a $1.7 billion industry for Viagra alone. Some new competition out there. We've talked about this in the past.

A couple of things about erectile dysfunction. First of all, about 30 million men in the United States have it. Only about 1 in 5 seek treatment. So these medical alternatives, very important.

There's a study done, as you mentioned, Bill, actually looking at a few of the drugs. There's three of them now. Viagra, most people know about that. There's also Levitra, which was approved in August of this year, and then something known as Cialis as well. It's been out in Europe for quite some time, not approved in this country yet under FDA review.

They decided to put a few of these tests sort of head to head, if you will. A small study, not a very well controlled study, meaning that hard to really conclude that one drug is better than the other based on these studies. But take a look at what they found here, specifically looking at Viagra, Levitra and Cialis, finding that nearly 80 percent of men preferred Levitra or Cialis over Viagra. The study done on men who had erectile dysfunction for at least six months, they were in stable relationships, had never been treated for sexual dysfunction before, and were about 45 years old.

The reason they preferred Levitra, quicker acting, more reliable, they say, satisfactory sexual function as well, more so than Viagra.

Important news, small study, though, Bill. The most important thing is that there are going to be some options out there.

HEMMER: Let's try and get to two more things quickly. Do doctors agree with what the patients are saying?

GUPTA: Well, what they're saying is -- the most important thing is they do know that Levitra appears to work more quickly, appears to have a bit of a longer half life, meaning that it works a little bit longer as well. Hard to say that it's actually better than Viagra. You can take Levitra on an empty stomach as well, which may seem like that an important point, but people who are having to take Viagra had to take that with meals, which sometimes add it difficult. Cialis, just as well, the one that's not approved yet, interesting in Europe, it's actually dubbed the weekender. It lasts for about 36 hours. It's not approved here in this country yet, but that might be another option for men as well.

What doctors are saying, the doctors that we talked to, more than anything else, you may be splitting hairs a bit to actually distinguish that one is better than the other, but there may be three options out there. This is not a topic talked about enough. That there is more options, it might get talked about a little bit more.

HEMMER: Thank you, Sanjay. See you next hour.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired November 18, 2003 - 08:45   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Medical news this morning, two very important stories to get to. For men with sexual dysfunction, it's a revolution of sorts. Two anti-impotence drugs now on the market. A third is on the way soon.
Here's Sanjay Gupta, our good doctor, at the CNN Center to talk about this.

I also want to mention the word from the CDC regarding this year's flu season. What are they saying, Sanjay? Let's start there.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a tough flu season coming up possibly, Bill. It's already striking, which is a little bit earlier than normal. It sounds like it's going to be a tougher season. As well on the flu shot, while mainly effective, there is a strain of the flu out there, particularly tough one, that the flu shot this year not protecting against as well.

So best advice, get your flu shot for the masses out there to protect yourself against what is out there, but it may be a little bit of a difficult one this year, Bill.

HEMMER: What about sexual dysfunction? We now have two options out there. There's a third on the way. Studies are being done to find out which one is most effective. What are you hearing?

GUPTA: Very important topic as well. It's a huge industry, the impotence drugs, about a $1.7 billion industry for Viagra alone. Some new competition out there. We've talked about this in the past.

A couple of things about erectile dysfunction. First of all, about 30 million men in the United States have it. Only about 1 in 5 seek treatment. So these medical alternatives, very important.

There's a study done, as you mentioned, Bill, actually looking at a few of the drugs. There's three of them now. Viagra, most people know about that. There's also Levitra, which was approved in August of this year, and then something known as Cialis as well. It's been out in Europe for quite some time, not approved in this country yet under FDA review.

They decided to put a few of these tests sort of head to head, if you will. A small study, not a very well controlled study, meaning that hard to really conclude that one drug is better than the other based on these studies. But take a look at what they found here, specifically looking at Viagra, Levitra and Cialis, finding that nearly 80 percent of men preferred Levitra or Cialis over Viagra. The study done on men who had erectile dysfunction for at least six months, they were in stable relationships, had never been treated for sexual dysfunction before, and were about 45 years old.

The reason they preferred Levitra, quicker acting, more reliable, they say, satisfactory sexual function as well, more so than Viagra.

Important news, small study, though, Bill. The most important thing is that there are going to be some options out there.

HEMMER: Let's try and get to two more things quickly. Do doctors agree with what the patients are saying?

GUPTA: Well, what they're saying is -- the most important thing is they do know that Levitra appears to work more quickly, appears to have a bit of a longer half life, meaning that it works a little bit longer as well. Hard to say that it's actually better than Viagra. You can take Levitra on an empty stomach as well, which may seem like that an important point, but people who are having to take Viagra had to take that with meals, which sometimes add it difficult. Cialis, just as well, the one that's not approved yet, interesting in Europe, it's actually dubbed the weekender. It lasts for about 36 hours. It's not approved here in this country yet, but that might be another option for men as well.

What doctors are saying, the doctors that we talked to, more than anything else, you may be splitting hairs a bit to actually distinguish that one is better than the other, but there may be three options out there. This is not a topic talked about enough. That there is more options, it might get talked about a little bit more.

HEMMER: Thank you, Sanjay. See you next hour.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com