Schwitzer health news blog

Pharma creates alphabet soup of male health problems

ED. EP. PE.

C'mon, guys. (And the women who love them.) It's quiz time. And if you don't know what these stand for, you're simply not doing a good job keeping up with drug company marketing.

ED is the marketing term for erectile dysfunction. Erectile dysfunction was too clinical. Impotence was too offensive.

EP, as noted earlier on this site, is the new name for BPH, which is the acronym for benign prostatic hyperplasia, which will affect most men if they live long enough. It's prostate enlargement (but it's not PE) that gives men urinary trouble. Many men find it doesn't need to be treated with drugs or surgery. But you don't hear that in ads.

PE was highlighted in the New York Times this week. as drug companies develop drugs for premature ejaculation. A Netherlands sexual health researcher is quoted in the article, saying that he thinks the number of men suffering from premature ejaculation is far lower than studies sponsored by drug companies suggest. The neuropsychiatrist says, "My worry is that independent research will become more difficult as pharmaceutical companies bring the message that P.E. is very prevalent and that most men should use medication, and of course their medication."

I can't wait to see the PE television ads. Man slips into bed....clock ticking loudly from nightstand. Anxiety. Anticipation. Then fade to black. Superimpose new drug product name. Then dissolve to happy faces cuddling.

Another lifestyle drug achievement. Meantime the war on cancer and heart disease moves on slowly in silence.