Plandaí Biotechnology has announced its preliminary plans to develop and test an all-natural Phytofare extract for erectile dysfunction (ED).
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With an ED market that brings in billions annually, it’s not hard to figure out why Plandaí would use its unique and proprietary extraction process to try to develop and test another possible extract — this time providing an all-natural alternative to existing ED drugs like Viagra and Cialis.
The company’s expectation, assuming the ED product would be effective and safe after conducting research, development and testing, would be to market and sell the extract as an active ingredient to pharmaceutical and nutraceutical manufacturers.
Plandaí recently announced that it has begun cultivating and cloning epimedium, a plant with the known ability to treat erectile dysfunction, and expects to commence testing on the possible ED product mid-2015.
This month Plandaí received preliminary results from a human clinical trial conducted in South Africa by North West University. The results of those tests indicate that using Plandaí’s technology resulted in a green tea extract with 10 times more potency than the commercially available extract it was compared to in the study.
Plandaí expects to duplicate that success with a special strain of epimedium that contains high levels of icariin, the primary active compound which studies have shown may treat ED.
Epimedium, also known as "horny goat weed" contains icariin, which is a Phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitor like sildenafil, the active ingredient in the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra. In fact, icariin was cited by the US Patent Office as a known PDE5 inhibitor when it denied portions of Pfizer’s Viagra patent.
While icariin has less potency than sildenafil, Plandaí believes its extraction process will enhance epimedium’s absorption and retention in the bloodstream, resulting in an-natural extract that the company anticipates will function much like Viagra.
According to the Massachusetts Male Aging Study, as much as 52 percent of all men aged 40 and older have some degree of ED (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8254833). With the aging population worldwide, the British Journal of Urology conservatively expects the number of men with ED to more than double from 152 million men in 1995 to 322 million men by 2025 (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1464-410x.1999.00142.x/abstract).
If Plandaí can achieve the same results from an epimedium extract that the preliminary results showed with its green tea clinical trial, then those suffering from ED, may have a potent all-natural solution in their future.