Grant: Project Grant

In 1925, Sigmund Freud was among the first scientists to officially say that, as breathing and feeding, sex is also undoubtedly a life-sustaining activity. Today, almost every one of us would spontaneously agree that sex plays indeed a key role in life especially for men and women of reproductive age. This probably explains why a famous 'little blue pill', better known as Viagra®, has been so popular since first sold in 1998. In fact, in 2012, Viagra® and other pro-erectile drugs sold more than 4 billion dollar worth of pills. That is comparable to some of the most popular medicines for depression, asthma or high cholesterol and heart problems. This said, no pill exists yet for sexual problems other than erection. Hopefully, this may change soon. Indeed, a few researchers have recently begun developing a first pill against premature ejaculation - one of the ejaculation problems. In parallel, we have launched a project designed instead at discovering a first pill for those who can't ejaculate - that is 3% of all men worldwide, many of whom with spinal cord injury or brain lesion. Using a unique technological platform developed in our laboratory, we have identified a few molecules capable, upon each single administration, to trigger unconditionally, within a few minutes, some ejaculation in spinal cord-injured animals. Thrilled by these promising findings, we are proposing, here, to do more tests in animals in order to increase and optimize the efficacy of that potential new treatment. Results from this project may eventually lead to tests in humans and, if eventually approved by Health Canada, to commercialization of the first pill ever capable of preventing ejaculation failure in Canadians with spinal cord injury and other comparable neurological problems.